Month: December 2015

An artist's illustration of the Moon Express MX-1 lunar lander on the surface of the moon. (credit: Moon Express)

Time is running out for the 16 teams entered into the Google Lunar XPRIZE, which requires entrants to land a small spacecraft on the surface of The Moon by the end of 2017. But now, eight years after the prize was announced, the competitors are beginning to show tangible signs of progress.

In October an Israeli team, SpaceIL, became the first of the 16 competitors to announce a launch contract to carry its lander to the Moon. The team signed up for a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch in the second half of 2017. On Tuesday a second team attained that goal, as the US-based Moon Express, led by Bob Richards, announced a deal for a Rocket Lab Electron rocket in 2017.

"We believe that the spirit of competition brings about breakthroughs that once seemed unimaginable or impossible, and so it thrills us to now have two Google Lunar XPRIZE teams with verified launch contracts attempting missions to the moon in 2017," said Chanda Gonzales, senior director of the Google Lunar XPRIZE, in a statement. "The new space race is truly on!"

We take a ride in the Schulich Delta, a solar race car built by students at the University of Calgary. Video produced by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

A car doesn't have to be something like a McLaren P1 to push our buttons. One of the most exciting rides we had in 2015 was also the least-powerful: the Schulich Delta, a solar-powered racer designed and built by a team of students at the University of Calgary. The ride was courtesy of National Geographic's Breakthrough, which had brought the University's solar car team to New York as part of the same promotion as the McLaren. The Delta was also made out of carbon fiber composites, but after that it's harder to find similarities with the P1.

SAN FRANCISCO—We were hoping to see more of Sony's most anticipated games at this past weekend's PlayStation Experience expo at the giant Moscone Center, but previously announced titles like The Last Guardian, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Gran Turismo Sport were nowhere to be found. That didn't mean Sony was slacking on the whole "games of the future" front, however, because the company took the opportunity to give PlayStation VR (formerly known as Project Morpheus) its biggest public showing yet.

We wrote at length about PlayStation VR after June's E3 showing, giving particular props to games like London Heist: Getaway, Super Hyper Cube, Wayward Sky, and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League. Those games were also on display, and they're still quite good, but those were only the beginning. We have now left another expo six months later with just as many positive impressions of new VR games. This is no lark for Sony. PlayStation VR is happening, and here's our take on its quickly expanding ecosystem of content.

PlayStation VR: How does it feel?

Sam Machkovech, seen here sporting the latest version of the PlayStation VR headset.

8 more images in gallery

Getting the feel of a VR headset just right can be a little tricky—especially when the hardware should both fit snugly and still offer comfort (particularly in terms of ventilation). Sony's answer to the headset-fit question is a two-step fastening process. After putting the headset on top of your head, you press down on a little button to bring the lenses directly up to your face. After that, the back-of-head strap has its own button and dial. Press the button down to raise and lower where the strap wraps around the back of your head, then turn the dial to snap the strap snugly to your head.