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Enlarge / An example of what the Mercedes-Benz augmented reality HUD looks like in action. You can see here it's showing the driver they need to take a left turn. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)

When Audi briefed Ars on its newest electric car, the part that most piqued our interest was the news that the Q4 e-tron Sportback will feature an augmented reality heads-up display. As we explained in that article, Audi didn't feel like elaborating much on the new technology. Perhaps it wishes it had, as it's going to be beaten to the punch by its deadly rival Mercedes-Benz. When the 2021 S-Class debuts in September, the brand's flagship sedan will offer an AR HUD, among other tech upgrades.

The automaker has even been forthcoming with some technical info on this latest driver assist. It uses a digital mirror device from Texas Instruments—perhaps no surprise given that TI has been developing automotive AR tech for a while now. The DMD has a resolution of 1.3 megapixels (or megamirrors, to be strictly accurate) and projects onto a 10˚ horizontal, 5˚ vertical aperture HUD, with the image appearing 33 feet (10m) away. (Mercedes-Benz says it's the equivalent of a 77-inch monitor.)

Unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz hasn't shared any still images of the AR HUD in action, and there were only a few seconds of video in the b-roll that the company provided. But the automaker did helpfully tweet out a longer video this morning, which we've embedded below, as it really is the best way to see how the system works. (If the embedded tweet isn't showing up for you, you can view it here.)

Enlarge / An Atlas V payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover secured inside arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility this week. (credit: NASA)

Welcome to Edition 3.07 of the Rocket Report! This week, we're getting close to the opening of the Mars launch window, which occurs about every two years when Earth and the Red Planet align. It looks like United Arab Emirates' Mars Hope mission will the first of three probes to launch this summer, possibly as early as July 14.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Second-stage failure leads to loss of Electron rocket. On Sunday morning, local time, in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched its 13th mission. The booster's first stage performed normally, but just as the second stage neared an altitude of 200km, something went wrong, and the vehicle was lost, Ars reports. The mission, dubbed "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," carried 5 SuperDove satellites for the imaging company Planet, as well as commercial payloads both for Canon Electronics and In-Space Missions.