Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

antares

Orbital's Antares rocket makes successful test flight

After multiple scrubbed launches last week, an Antares rocket finally lifted off the ground from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of Orbital Sciences' bid to transport cargo to the International Space Station.

The rocket lifted off at 5 p.m. ET Sunday and achieved orbit smoothly. It launched an 8,400-pound mock Cygnus supply ship into orbit about 158 miles above Earth.

Antares is a medium-class, two-stage, 13-storey rocket designed to carry payloads of up to 6,500 kg (14,329 pounds). Along with SpaceX, Orbital was awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to … Read more

Pininfarina designs EV charging solar tree

Last year, automotive designer Pininfarinia debuted a prototype two-seater electric car, and this year it's making the pint-size Nido EV even more environmentally friendly by creating a solar charging station to power it.

The Italian design house revealed the Antares solar charging tree last month at MoTechEco, a sustainable mobility show in Rome. The 108 sq. ft. treelike modular car charger contains 20 photovoltaic solar panels, capable of producing 4.6 kilowatts, enough to recharge two electric cars for a range of approximately 50 miles each.

Pininfarina isn't alone in its pursuit of a tree-shaped solar charging station. … Read more

Audio demonstration of pitch-correction software

Having spent some time in recording studios, I was aware that automatic pitch-correction software exists and is used by nearly every singer to smooth out the occasional off note. (Neko Case claims she doesn't use it, but she's the rare exception.) But I don't sing, so haven't spent a lot of time with it myself.

So I was fascinated to hear New Yorker music editor Sasha Frere-Jones, who wrote about pitch-correction this week, give an audio demonstration of Antares' AutoTune software in the magazine's Out Loud podcast. He sings a version of Kelly Clarkson's … Read more