Perhaps I should read the patent before speaking but I am wary about using sand or sugar as the ballast material. Sugar is sometimes used as a fuel element in some types of solid fuel engines. And as for sand, somehow it just does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling mo matter how miniscule the sandstorm created. I am inclined to suggest a material such as baking soda because it is a fire retardant. To quote from the following website:

http://humantouchofchemistry.com/wh...guish-fires.htm

Baking soda is chemically known as sodium bicarbonate. When heated to a high temperature, the chemical properties of this salt make it produce lots of carbon dioxide and remove oxygen. This then totally reduces the amount of oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere and puts the fire out. This reaction also produces a small quantity of water and sodium carbonate as by-products.

My thank you's to the Mole for the plans and continued support and to Ez2cDave for the continued research and patent info. I am intrigued by the possibility of reawakening one of these beasts