rajama

aswokei I read an article [New Scientist, Scientific American..?] about a system which was pretty much exactly as you've described, not full holographic, but some kind of stereo vision set-up, across a desk, etc... they used multiple cameras, needed some heavyweight servers and bandwidth to move content between two sites, but it worked. Okay, so it probably only worked on Tuesdays, but it sounds like a workable product. Dapthar I didn't realise realtime holography was so far advanced - what happened after '95? PS Deep Space 9, aboard the Defiant, I remember someone chating to some admiral using a holo-link...

This is the first forum I've joined. Anywhere. Usually I just wonder around, but when I stumbled out of Google into SFN I couldn't read half the formulae being discussed, so I just had to join. Really.

Well, yes, you're probably right - a very large lifter... maybe something with an area like that swept-out by a set of helicopter blades? ...and then there's power, well - you'd have to rely on fuel cells [lightweight, of course], the kind of thing the car industry seems to be putting so much money into..?

'Lifters' have been on the web for a few years now - many claim to have constructed at least table-top devices using TV high voltage supplies... I noticed in several downloaded clips that the initial 'launch' was very rapid but in each instance the 'kite' settled down, moving off to one side. Could this be due to the build-up of charge on the lifter? There doesn't appear to be anything to neutralise the ion flow - I assume this is still required just as in an ion drive, but since we're in an atmosphere, it may not be so clear-cut. Once the ion stream touches down, I would imagine a considerable electric field would be set-up between the lifter and the Earth, pulling it back or preventing it rising further, also making the area around it even more unhealthy than it already is. This would explain the limited altitude achieved in the open air, even when the supply lead is quite long. One exception seems to be when the device flies indoors in a hanger just large enough to contain it...