Page 33 - EngineerIT April May Issue 2026

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

“Lightning-caused wildfires are one of the most costly and difficult risks for The company avoids the term “cloud
governments and infrastructure operators to manage,” said Sam Goldman, seeding” in its public communication.
CEO of Skyward Wildfire. “Our first season demonstrated that prevention is However, a press release announcing its
possible at scale. This funding allows us to expand into new regions and selection as a finalist in a conservation
support partners who need reliable, operational tools to reduce wildfire risk group’s Fire Grand Challenge states that
before emergencies begin.” it suppresses lightning “by cloud seeding
with safe, non-toxic materials to neutralise
It is an eye-catching claim, but one that goes beyond the confidence levels storm charges.”
of researchers who have studied the potential for humans to suppress
lightning. In a statement to MIT Technology Review, the company clarified The concept is intriguing, but its practical
that its results were observed under specific conditions and were not application at scale appears some way off.
intended to suggest uniform outcomes.
Email: hans@comsa.africa
Nicholas Harterre, who oversees government partnerships at Skyward, said
in an email: “In complex atmospheric systems, consistent 100% outcomes
are not realistic.” Background: chaff
The idea of using chaff was developed
The company says its technology can prevent most cloud-to-ground
independently in the United Kingdom,
lightning strikes in targeted storm cells. So far, however, Skyward has not
Germany, the United States and Japan.
publicly revealed how it achieves this. In response to questions from MIT
In 1937, British researcher Gerald
Technology Review, Harterre said only that the materials used are “inert and
Touch, working with Robert Watson-
selected in accordance with regulatory standards.”
Watt on radar, suggested that lengths
of wire suspended from balloons or
Online documents suggest the company may be using an approach first
parachutes might overwhelm radar
evaluated by US government agencies in the early 1960s: seeding clouds
systems with false echoes.
with metallic chaff, or narrow fibreglass strands coated with aluminium.
The military uses this material to disrupt radar signals. Fighter jets, for
R. V. Jones later proposed that pieces
example, deploy it during combat to confuse guided missile systems. Field
of metal foil falling through the air
trials conducted decades ago suggest that it may reduce lightning strikes
could achieve the same effect. In early
under certain conditions, although results were limited.
1942, Telecommunications Research
Establishment researcher Joan Curran
If Skyward can apply this approach reliably at scale, it could offer a useful
developed a method of dropping
tool for managing wildfire risk, particularly as climate change increases
aluminium strips from aircraft to create
temperatures, dries out forests and may increase the frequency of
a cloud of false echoes.
lightning strikes.
Early versions used sheets the size of
However, researchers and environmental observers point to several
a notebook page, which were also
uncertainties. These include how effective the seeding process would be
considered for use as propaganda
under varying weather conditions, how much material would be required,
leaflets. Later testing showed that
how frequently it would need to be deployed, and what environmental
narrow strips of black paper backed
impacts might result from large-scale lightning suppression.
with aluminium foil, cut to precise
dimensions and bundled by weight,
Some observers have also raised concerns that the company appears to
were more effective.
have proceeded with field trials in parts of Canada without wide public
notice or detailed disclosure of the materials released into the atmosphere.
The head of the TRE, A. P. Rowe,

code-named the device “Window”.
Seeding the clouds
In Germany, similar research led to
Skyward’s website offers limited technical detail, but the company says it
the development of “Düppel”, named
worked with Canadian wildfire agencies in 2024 and 2025 to demonstrate
after the estate where early tests were
its technology. It also reports developing AI tools to predict lightning strikes
conducted.
that could ignite fires.

33 | EngineerIT April/May 2026