Between earth and space is a world where scientists are only just beginning to discover its beauties and its dangers. There have been reports of columns of flame, blue tongues of fire and giant jelly fish shaped lights flashing above storms.

Once the stuff of myth and fable, this “megalightning” is all too real and some experts fear some forms may eventually be found to be the culprit in a number of mystery disasters involving airliners and space craft.

The discovery of these new forms of much more powerful and positively charged lightning – which strikes upwards – has been likened by one scientist to biologists “discovering a new body part”.

For some years, pilots and passengers have been describing gigantic, exotically shaped and coloured flashes from above their aircraft. Mostly the sightings have been dismissed or left unresearched but in recent years NASA’s own concerns about “megalightning” has driven much more serious and urgent inquiry into these powerful forces.

The crew of the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle was charged with capturing images of the lightning whilst in orbit. Ironically, the disastrous re-entry led the finger of suspicion to the subject of these photographs from space. Eventually, a “closed doors” NASA inquiry rejected the role of “megalighting” in the tragedy.

Although the official Columbia investigation found other explanations, fears remain about the dangers of these lightning bolts – which can fire above the clouds to a height more than 20 times that of Mount Everest. It’s at least ten times more powerful than conventional, negatively charged lightning.

Eye witnesses portray the lightning as “magical” and describe “bright flashes of light… like jellyfish hanging in the sky”; another talks of “a giant flash of lightning ……….this beautiful double helix pattern that seemed to just go on forever. It was just like it was going straight into space.”……. “that’s impossible. Lightning doesn’t go up”.

Sub sonic sound experts who once detected rogue nuclear bomb tests for the US Government are now turning their techniques to tracking the existence of these newly discovered forms of “megalightning”. NASA set up an investigation committee to analyse the dangers for space craft and air accident investigators have recommended a six-fold increase in the resilience of some aircraft construction materials to protect fully against the powers of this positively charged super-lightning.

Meanwhile, the raw beauty of the lightning continues to leave its observers awestruck. Giant jets of blue lightning spurting from clouds and jelly fish lightning dancing as a chorus line.
With original footage and cgi enhanced images, The Secrets of Megalightning reveals the hidden world of the stratosphere and tells the story of the pioneers endeavouring to understand its origins and calculate and - maybe one day – harness its power.

They are convinced there’s still a whole uncharted world out there. As one put it,”there are creatures out there which we shouldn¹t be so sure about “and another “there’s a whole undiscovered menagerie out there - it’s a zoo”.