Okay, my computer isn't running properly, but at least it's running. (Slax LiveCD to the rescue!)
Rob, the problem with a UV photon-remass drive is the sheer quantity of light needed to lift anything. A huge variety of substances fluoresce under UV light, and at least as many are ionized or otherwise chemically changed by it. The quantities needed... now that I'm actually thinking about it, it boggles the mind. We aren't talking sunburns here, folks, but forest fires...
Really, the problem with a UV photon-remass drive is the "remass" part. Any remass drive is functionally equivalent to a sizable missile being launched, which is bound to attract the kind of attention I was thinking I might avoid (which any "waved car"-style speed drive launch does avoid). Now I need to decide if the photon-remass drive is worth having to write a noisy launch, or if I should just make the Hacker's Heaven a waved car (it was originally going to be an ISO shipping container, with waterbeds for padding and an algally powered atmospheric system).
Rob, the problem with a UV photon-remass drive is the sheer quantity of light needed to lift anything. A huge variety of substances fluoresce under UV light, and at least as many are ionized or otherwise chemically changed by it. The quantities needed... now that I'm actually thinking about it, it boggles the mind. We aren't talking sunburns here, folks, but forest fires...
Really, the problem with a UV photon-remass drive is the "remass" part. Any remass drive is functionally equivalent to a sizable missile being launched, which is bound to attract the kind of attention I was thinking I might avoid (which any "waved car"-style speed drive launch does avoid). Now I need to decide if the photon-remass drive is worth having to write a noisy launch, or if I should just make the Hacker's Heaven a waved car (it was originally going to be an ISO shipping container, with waterbeds for padding and an algally powered atmospheric system).