And looking into that laser unit more, since its readily available in hd-dvd players people are selling off cheap now that they're obsolete, it's completely realistic to think you could get enough of them for some serious output, its also convenient that the optics in the laser head of the player contain most of the optics that would be necessary. I think the IR wavelengths it produces should be sufficient to pull off the martian nights, but I'm wondering if the 405nm violet-blue it makes would be enough alone to pull off a worthwhile effort isn't that too far off target? The red 650nm should be great, but the output of these laser diodes is only about 10mw each. Although if i could get my hands on some hd-dvd burners cheap the laser diodes in those are cable of 100-200mw output more than enough to start a fire. I imagine, once diffused, polarity shifted, and spread out it would still be pretty intense beams of light. I guess even if it didn't succeed I could say i didn't succeed first .


edit: -quick attempt at learning to spell