nevada

After an intense competition, NASA announced contracts Friday totaling up to $900 million to be divvied up between three companies -- SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada -- to continue development of commercial manned spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

While it is far from clear whether Congress will provide enough funding to keep all three companies in the mix, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, a former shuttle commander, said the program was critical to America's future in space.

"Today we are announcing another critical step towards launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on … Read more

MERCURY, Nev. -- From the side that faced away from the blast, you might never even have bothered to look at this concrete dome. But walk around the other side, and there's no question something extraordinary happened here.

Welcome to the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site. As part of Road Trip 2012, I've come to visit this 1,375-square-mile expanse of harsh desert and even harsher mountains that begins about 75 miles north of Las Vegas. Here, from 1951 through 1992, a total of 928 nuclear weapons exploded, many of them sending … Read more

RIM is looking to a host of new products to help it recover in 2013, according to details reportedly found in a leaked product road map.

The company is set to kick off the year by launching both touch-screen and traditional QWERTY keyboard phones in the first quarter, according to enthusiast site BlackBerryOS.com. The BlackBerry London will be RIM's first touch-screen phone, the site says, while the BlackBerry Nevada will carry on with a physical keyboard.

Both phones will sport the BlackBerry 10 OS, which is finally slated to debut in the first quarter of 2013 following a … Read more

Nevada is known as being one of the most lenient states when it comes to gambling, fireworks, and getting married; and now it's extending that easygoingness to driverless cars.

As of today, Nevada is the first state to let Google's self-driving cars on the roads. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles issued the tech giant the first license to see just how these cars act and react on busy streets and highways, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

"We're excited to receive the first testing license for self-driving vehicles in Nevada," a Google spokesperson … Read more

Summer is just two months off, but over here at Geek Gestalt, with bright sunshine outside (and windows to keep the chilly wind out) it already feels like it's just around the corner.

That's also in large part because I've started the planning for Road Trip 2012, my seventh-annual journey to highlight some of the best destinations around for technology, military, architecture, science, nature, and so on.

For five of the past six years, the project has taken me all around the roads of the United States, giving me the opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest, the … Read more

Talk about walking the walk when it comes to solar energy.

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) manufacturer Amonix has built a factory and office space that uses solar panels as the sole power source, the company announced Wednesday.

The 214,000 square-foot facility uses eight of the company's MegaModule CPV solar systems, to serve the entire power need for the production plant and some connected office space. The system supplies "100 percent of the North Las Vegas facility's energy needs," according to Amonix.

Of course, it should be noted that this plant is located in Nevada, an area … Read more

Nevada, already the second largest producer of geothermal-generated electricity in the U.S., is set to increase its power production by 25 percent.

The state is getting three new geothermal plants thanks to a $350 million 20-year loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to geothermal company Ormat Technologies.

The Ormat Geothermal Project will consist of three separate geothermal power-generation facilities--one each in Jersey Valley in Pershing County, Tuscarora in Lander County, and McGinness Hills in Elko County.

All three installations when fully operational will produce enough electricity to power about 88,000 homes annually, according to Ormat Technologies, the … Read more

In yet another sign that scientists and researchers have never watched a sci-fi movie in their lives, Google wants to install and test its self-driving cars in Nevada with the hope of one day criss-crossing the nation's urban roadways with them. While the move could eventually help keep drunk drivers off the streets of Las Vegas, Reno, and Pahrump, it also means the Silver State could be the first to fall to our onrushing robot overlords.

If you thought Paris Hilton and her ilk got stupid, falling-down hammered in Las Vegas before today's announcement, clear the decks if Google receives the permission it's seeking from local government. After a testing period, the self-guided vehicles would allow passengers to talk on the phone, text, tweet, and be carried to the inevitable Robo-Human Slave Conversion Camps in safety and--especially in Vegas--drunken comfort. … Read more

Google keeps the news ball rolling, dropping two new Chromebook laptops and an enterprise-ready Chromebox. Plus, of course, they make Chrome OS official. Oh, and how could we bury the lead? Angry Birds is now available in the Chrome App Store! For free! Plus, it turns out 100,000 Facebook apps were accidentally leaking your data, Apple and Google hit the privacy hot sheet, and a dude jumps out of a helicopter with a rocket pack strapped to his back. We won't spoil the ending for you. --Molly