rockets

Billionaire Paul Allen today announced his grand ambition for the next generation of manned space travel: the largest aircraft ever built, which would be capable of orbital missions with quick turnarounds, greater safety, and better cost-effectiveness than anything previously launched.

At a press conference this morning in Seattle, Allen--a co-founder of Microsoft--along with Burt Rutan unveiled their new company, Stratolaunch Systems. Allen and Rutan previously collaborated on the creation of SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize for being the first privately funded spacecraft to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

Now, Allen and Rutan are at it again, and at … Read more

In ChuChu Rocket, your objective is to guide hordes of frantic mice (ChuChus) to their rocket ship by dropping arrowed tiles on the ground. As the mice move about the screen, simply swipe in front of them to drop a tile and point them in a direction to run. While the game may not sound very difficult, there are, in fact, an assortment of obstacles and an army of evil cats that very well could have you pulling your hair out by level 10.

There are three different game modes to choose from in ChuChu Rocket: Puzzle, Challenge, and Battle. … Read more

Monster Trucks Nitro 2 is the sequel to popular game Monster Trucks Nitro, both with the object of racing through courses littered with obstacles to compete for the best time. In Monster Trucks Nitro 2, you're challenged to work your way up through the ranks by completing early novice courses on up to championship races using different types of vehicles depending on the race. The control system gives you a throttle control across the bottom of the screen (which you'll rarely change from full power) and the accelerometer to control flips while in the air. Though MTN2 is … Read more

NASA is opting to go big instead of staying at home. The space agency today unveiled its new "Space Launch System," a meaty deep-space rocket that looks something like Saturn V on steroids.

NASA's official statement describes the SLS as "an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide... a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our current limits and opening up new discoveries."

Translation: Mars, baby!

"This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, kids today can now dream of one day walking on Mars." … Read more

A spaceship in not like a book.

When you invest in a book at an online retailer, you expect it to arrive at its destination with all its information intact. But when you invest in a spaceship, you know there's a chance it could blow up, veer off course, float off into space, or simply fail to communicate with you ever again (not unlike some love affairs and lovers you might care to forget).

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos surely knew this when he invested some of his well-gotten cash into a spaceship developed by Blue Origin LLC.… Read more

Donald and Eric talk about Nintendo's Wii U console and tablet controller, announced at E3 2011. Also, the fate of your keys is determined, a robot tackles a Rubik's Cube, and affordable space travel is nearly here... but not quite.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video… Read more

Some machines are perfect for just one person. A Formula 1 car, for example. Or a Heat-1X rocket.

You haven't heard of the Heat-1X? I feel you might be missing out on something rather special. For this is a rocket built by a Danish nonprofit called Copenhagen Suborbitals. It's a rocket built for one.

You might be wondering if something of this sort might ever get off the ground.

So below I present video evidence of a test launch of the Heat-1X. The New Scientist tells me it cost about $69,000 to build, which is cheerily less than what it takes to buy one of the larger BMWs.

The economics of this project might sound a trifle idealistic. Indeed, last year, a launch went somewhat awry when a hairdryer malfunctioned. This would be a hairdryer that was being used to provide heat inside the rocket.

However, Friday presented us with empirical evidence that the Heat-1X could really fly.… Read more

First introduced at CES 2011 and made available just a little more than a week ago, T-Mobile's Rocket 3.0 Laptop Stick USB 4G modem faced huge expectations as the company said that it would offer twice the download speed of other 4G devices, up to 42Mbps.

In our testing in the San Francisco Bay Area, the device didn't deliver.

Throughout the city of San Francisco, including in specific locations designated by T-Mobile as offering the new speed, the modem's connection capped at about 13Mbps. Now, this is by no means slow, in fact it's one of the fastest speeds we've seen from a 4G device, and it is capable of downloading a full 1080p movie (about 10GB of data) in about or under 2 hours. Still, it's quite far from 42Mbps.… Read more

Back at CES 2011, T-Mobile outlined its plans to double the speed of its 4G HSPA+ network and said it expected to roll out its upgraded network to 25 metro markets by mid-year. However, it looks like the carrier is actually ahead of schedule.

Today, T-Mobile announced it is launching its enhanced 4G network in more than 50 new markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, and San Francisco. The additions brings the total to 55 markets, where customers can enjoy theoretical download speeds of up to 42Mbps (previously, the max was 21Mbps).

Of course, … Read more