NASA unveils new spaceflight rocket

NASA has unveiled the design for the new rocket that is expected to enable astronauts to explore Mars "and beyond" in coming years.

The Space Launch System or SLS is expected to blast off on its first test mission at the end of 2017, NASA announced at a news conference Wednesday. It is designed to allow astronauts to explore the area between the Earth and the moon, near-Earth asteroids, Mars and its moons "and beyond."

NASA expects the rocket, shown in this artist's conception, to blast off on its first test mission in 2017. (NASA)According to NASA, the spacecraft will be the first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took U.S. astronauts to the moon more than 40 years ago.

The rocket will rely mainly on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel and will initially also use solid rocket boosters. Its core stage will use technology from the space shuttle program, which ended earlier this year. Its upper stage will use an engine built by East-Hartford, Conn.-based Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which is derived from technology developed during the Apollo moon missions.

Initially, the rocket will be able to lift 70 tonnes, but will be upgradable to lift up to 130 tonnes.

That is significantly more than the space shuttle and the biggest current unmanned rocket, which could each carry only around 24 tonnes. However, it is comparable to the Saturn V, which could carry nearly 120 tonnes.

The rocket's main job will be to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a capsule under development to transport astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, as well as cargo and science experiments. Low-Earth orbit refers to the area of space near Earth where the International Space Station, the main recent destination for previous spacecraft, is located.

NASA said it had chosen the design of the SLS because of the way the spacecraft can be upgraded or customized for each mission "to achieve the most efficient launch vehicle for the desired mission."

Bill Nelson, a Democratic senator from Florida, estimated Wednesday that the program would cost $18 billion over the next five years or $3 billion a year. The Associated Press said it had previously heard from "senior administration sources" that the rocket could cost as much as $35 billion.

All figures are US dollars.

Anonymous officials also told The Associated Press that NASA expects to build and launch about one rocket a year for 15 years or more in the 2020s and 2030s. The 2017 test flight will be unmanned, the first crew will fly in 2021 and the plan is for astronauts to visit a nearby asteroid in 2025, the officials said. They hope to land on Mars in the 2030s.

The officials said they didn't want to be named because no official announcement about the detailed future plans had yet been made.

With files from The Associated Press Accessibility Links

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Native Instruments unveils new Guitar Rig, Kontakt, Komplete suites

Native Instruments has unveiled new versions of its Guitar Rig, Kontakt and Komplete digital music production and performance packagesImage Gallery (11 images)

Mobile music-making apps like Amplitube and GarageBand have proven themselves to be popular, powerful and versatile additions to the digital toolbox of both bedroom enthusiast and professional alike. Dedicated computer software is by no means dead in the water yet, though, as evidenced by the new releases from Native Instruments. The computer-based music production and performance specialist has announced new versions of its Guitar Rig amp and effects package and Kontakt sampler, and the multi-product Komplete bundle.

Taking the suite closest to my own musical preferences first, Native Instruments (NI) has further expanded its powerful digital amp emulation and guitar effects package. Two new high gain amp emulations have been added to the library of the new Guitar Rig 5 Pro - the Van51 and HotSolo+ heavily overdriven models - which brings the total available to 17. Up to eight speaker cabinets from the 27 available can be combined at any one time, each with the ability to position the microphones (there's a choice of 16 different ones to choose from) and control the sound of the virtual room.

Six new effects have been added, ramping up the total to 54. There's a new classic compressor, a couple of reverb emulations, an eight-band filter, a stereo chorus and the new Resochord harmonizer. A new sidechaining function (described as a technique for reducing sonic clutter and creative "pumping" effects) offers studio-level dynamic processing possibilities, and can be assigned to any stereo input within the software. Effects from the Komplete package can also be slotted into the software, including the new Solid Mix Series and Transient Master studio processors, while new tone shaping controls such as the Container multi-effects creation, storage and recall module offer players even more command over their sound.

For those too busy (or dare I say, too lazy) to knuckle down and create their own sounds, Guitar Rig 5 Pro comes with over 130 new presets. It's available from next month for US$199, with an upgrade from previous versions costing US$79. It will also come bundled with the Guitar Rig Kontrol pedalboard for US$449.

NI's sampler software is now at version 5 and offers users newly enhanced sound shaping via a bevy of new filters and algorithms. Kontakt 5's new suite of 37 filters has been designed by the folks behind the Massive synth - including the new Adaptive Resonance concept, described as automatically managing filter characteristics to prevent unwelcome artifacts from resonance peaks.

There's a new TimeMachine Pro time-stretching algorithm, new Solid G-EQ and Solid Bus Comp algorithms from the Solid Mix Series processors have been included, and vintage sampling modes from the Maschine system also feature. The suite has also been given a powerful new instrument bus system and KSP-based MIDI file support, and a 43 GB factory library that includes eight separate instrument collections - users can also download the new Retro Machine Mk 2 instrument for free.

Kontakt 5 is also scheduled for a September release at US$399, with existing users being able to upgrade for US$119.

NI has also waved its upgrade wand in the direction of its suite of bundled digital instrument processing, tone creation, recording and studio products. Komplete comes in two flavors, depending on how much power you need from your digital instrument and effects suite.

The standard Komplete 8 package is a collection of 27 products from NI's range, including piano emulators, guitar and bass suites, and percussion packs. New to version 8 is the Studio Drummer production software and the Transient Master dynamic processing effect, and over 1,300 additional presets for Absynth, FM8 and Massive have been collected from several soundpacks. This bundle will cost US$559, also from next month, and previous Komplete owners can upgrade for US$229.

The Ultimate version will cost US$1,099, with upgrades available for US$559, and offers users the full arsenal of 50 products of NI instrument and effects range on a dedicated USB hard drive. There's over 13,000 sounds and 240 GB of sample content.

Both suites come with Guitar Rig 5 Pro and Kontakt 5 included, and are optimized for the company's Maschine production hardware.

NI has prepared a video introduction to the Komplete system:

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WIMM Labs unveils wearable Android-based computing platform

 The WIMM Platform is designed as a turnkey solution for wearable computing applicationsImage Gallery (12 images)

Los Altos-based WIMM Labs has unveiled its WIMM Wearable Platform, an Android-powered computing system designed to provide a basis for a variety of portable touchscreen portable such as smartphone-connectible watches, bike computers, or digital assistants.

Developed in collaboration with Foxconn, the platform is a scalable system integrating hardware and software components that's designed to enable customization and integration into other products. "It can quickly take you from product incubation and testing to full-scale manufacturing and sales," WIMM Labs says.

Initially, a prototype module device has been unveiled, which comes with a 1.4-inch 160x160 pixels capacitive touchscreen, up to 32GB memory, accelerometer and magnetometer. It's also WiFi- and Bluetooth-enabled, and water resistant. Future devices built on the basic module may either work standalone, or as an extension of other products. While running an Android OS, WIMM-based devices will be reportedly compatible with iOS and BlackBerry as well.

The company plans to launch an application store for WIMM-powered devices, thus a Software Development Kit (SDK) will be made publicly available in Q3 2011, enabling to develop WIMM-tailored Android apps called "Micro Apps." Initially, the company has worked with "handpicked set of developers," and there's a limited number of Developer Preview Kits that now can be applied for. The module device comes pre-loaded with a number of apps including Caller ID, SMS Preview, Lost Phone Warning, Calendar, Weather, or World Clock.

WIMM Labs says potential devices utilizing its turnkey Wearable Platform could find applications in such fields as health and sport performance monitoring, mobile payments, enterprise use, travel assistance, entertainment or communications. While none of the above is something completely new, WIMM Wearable Platform hopes to earn its success by making things simpler for developers and manufacturers.

The following promo presentation outlines where WIMM is going with the idea:

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