On Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:29:04 -0400, J Three wrote:

I do not know the answer to that


I found some info on this:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/co...S_concept.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/co...lightning.html

The towers are indeed for lightning protection, and your images
show very nice detail of their construction.