Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detects impact glass

Image of one of the glass deposits discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter located at Alga Crater, deposits are displayed in green (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL/Univ. of Arizona)

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected deposits of impact glass on the Red Planet that may provide a fresh avenue for investigating the question of whether life ever existed there. The hope is that glass forged in the intense conditions created by an asteroid impact may have preserved microscopic signs of life, as it has here on Earth.

Detecting the signature of the glass deposits proved to be no small feat for the MRO, as the weak spectral signal from the glass is usually overwhelmed by the rock entombed inside it.

In order to make the orbiter's instruments more sensitive to detecting the relatively weak signal, Jack Mustard, deputy investigator of the MRO mission, placed a Martian rock substitute in a kiln and fired it in order to create an impact glass-like substance.

He then analyzed the spectral qualities of the glass and used an algorithm to pick out similar deposits on Mars. This resulted in the detection of several large glass deposits located at the central peaks of various Martian impact craters.

“The researchers’ analysis suggests glass deposits are relatively common impact features on Mars,” states Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division. Green continues, “These areas could be targets for future exploration as our robotic scientific explorers pave the way on the journey to Mars with humans in the 2030s.”

Impact glass back on Earth has been found to be a surprisingly effective medium for preserving clues to life, such as organic molecules and even plant life. Such was the case for a glass deposit found at the site of an impact crater in Argentina, which is believed to have formed millions years ago.

Scientist Peter Schultz of Brown University, Ohio, who was responsible for discovering the preserved specimens of life in the Argentinian impact glass, believes that a similar phenomenon on Mars could provide clues to life having existed in the planet's ancient past. However, for organic molecules to be preserved, they must have existed at the location and time of the impact event.

One deposit of glass was found at the Hargraves crater near Nili Fossae trough, which happens to be in the proximity of one of the candidate landing sites for NASA's 2020 Mars rover. The discovery of the glass deposits may well inform the eventual landing site of the mission, which will collect samples from the Martian landscape for analysis and possible return to Earth.

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American Dream Trailer revives vintage camper with rowboat roof

American Dream has brought back the classic boat-trailer

There are plenty of camping trailers that haul boats and other outdoor gear into the wild. We've covered options like the SylvanSport GO-Easy and BCT MOAB Yak within the past year. Portland-based American Dream Trailer Company has a new – er, revisited – idea for how to best transport a boat on your camper. In place of the typical gear racks, its trailer uses a matching boat that secures to the trailer roof like a fitted hat.

A camper with integrated rooftop boat may sound unusual, but it's not a new idea. Back in the 50s, the Kom-Pak Sportsman, manufactured in Medford, Oregon, roamed highways and forest roads as a towable fiberglass camper with boat roof. According to information published by Mecum Auctions in 2010, it's believed that only about 16 Sportsman trailers were ever built, with maybe half a dozen surviving to modern day. The trailers were designed to match Ford station wagons of the day, and anyone that likes vintage vehicles should find them quite the photogenic duo.

Not long after the Kom-Pak Sportsman, in the early 60s, San Rafael, California-based Trailorboat Engineering Company, a boat builder, began offering a fiberglass camper with rooftop boat of its own. Similar to the Sportsman, minus the Ford-matching design, the Trailorboat camper was a teardrop-inspired trailer with a roof boat. It was only built for a few years, and only a few hundred are believed to have been sold.

From the few photos we've seen of the Sportsman and replicas with the boat detached, that trailer relied solely on the boat for a roof. The Trailorboat camper, on the other hand, had a separate roof below the boat.

About five years ago, Paul Dahlman and his wife purchased an original 1961 Trailorboat and fell in love with it. They decided that they wanted to share the classic design and camping/boating experience with the world. Using their original model, they designed an authentic replica and developed partnerships for the chassis and fiberglass construction, putting the model into production.

The Classic American Dream Trailer has a fiberglass camper body built atop a 4 x 8-ft (1.2 x 2.4-m) steel-tube chassis designed to carry up to 2,000 lb (907 kg). After the chassis is fabricated, American Dream takes it to M&W Fiberglass and Composite for the construction of the fiberglass cabin and boat. From there, the wheeled fiberglass shell travels to the Dahlman's neighbor's garage, where they build it up to customer specification.

The rooftop boat removes via five latches. The trailer includes the separate roof below the boat so there's no worry about exposure when the boat is in use. The boat is built to carry up to three people/500 lb (227 kg). It has a motor mount and can handle a motor of 2 hp.

American Dream offers the base 650-lb (295-kg) camper at a price of US$8,900 with the boat, two-person mattress, shelving, oars, oarlocks, curtains and a checkerboard floor. The trailer includes a tailgate for gear storage and food preparation. The boat makes the camper look a little bigger than it is; it is a small, lightweight teardrop-style design, so the interior is quite compact and simple. Options include an interior table and single- and two-tone color schemes. Deliveries currently take six to eight weeks.

In addition to selling trailers, American Dream is trying to ramp up its rental business. It has already rented out its own trailer and recently turned to Kickstarter to try to raise funding to add five new trailers to its rental fleet. Barring some type of miracle or highly motivated, big-pocketed Kickstarter member, that campaign will be unsuccessful. As of publication, it raised less than $2,000 of its $50K goal and had only 40 hours left. Dahlman told us that the company figured the campaign was a long shot and will continue renting out its one trailer, with plans of adding a second and possibly more in the future.

If you like the idea of a trailer-boat, we also suggest you take a peek at the German-built Sealander amphibious camper, which is now available.

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MX3D gets go-ahead for 3D-printed bridge in Amsterdam

MX3D will use multi-axis industrial robots to 3D print the bridge

Gizmag has covered a wealth of remarkable architectural projects involving 3D printing – including a backyard castle, a number of small homes and a room with 260 million surfaces – but a project in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is set to be particularly impressive. 3D printing R&D firm MX3D is planning to print a bridge across a canal. It is hoped that the robots used will print their own supports and gradually move across the water, creating the bridge as they go.

The project is a collaboration with, among others, design software company Autodesk and construction firm Heijmans and will incorporate robotics, software engineering, craftsmanship and design. Designer Joris Laarman, who has previously worked with MX3D printing free-standing 3D sculptures, is using Autodesk software to design what is described as "an ornate metal bridge."

"I strongly believe in the future of digital production and local production, in the new craft," says Laarman. "This bridge will show how 3D printing finally enters the world of large-scale, functional objects and sustainable materials while allowing unprecedented freedom of form."

MX3D says the project is made feasible by its robotic 3D printing technology that effectively makes it possible to draw in mid-air. The multi-axis industrial robots to be used can print metals, plastics and combinations of materials.

"What distinguishes our technology from traditional 3D printing methods is that we work according to the 'printing outside the box' principle," explains CTO of MX3D Tim Geurtjens, "By printing with 6-axis industrial robots, we are no longer limited to a square box in which everything happens."

For the bridge project, the robots will be printing in steel. They will use specially-designed arms that heat up the metal to 1,500° C (2,732° F) before welding the structure. This approach means structures can be created that are strong, durable and complex.

What's more, it is hoped that the entire process will take place on-site. Assuming that is the case, the robots will begin creating the structure on one side of the water and will create rail-supports as they go. They will then be able to gradually slide forward on the supports, literally creating the bridge upon which they are crossing the canal (as demonstrated in the visualization below).

A visitor center where people can follow the progress of the robots is expected to be opened to the public in September, although the exact location of the bridge is yet to be confirmed.

The video below provides an introduction to the project.

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On the ground at the Oculus Rift launch event: Initial thoughts

Oculus VR's founder Palmer Luckey showing off the Oculus Rift (Credit: Will Shanklin/Gizmag)

Oculus VR just wrapped up its first consumer product launch a few hours ago, and we were there for the fun. Now that the dust is settling, we have a few initial thoughts.

First, we got to chat with CEO Brendan Iribe and Product VP Nate Mitchell afterwards, and we'll sift through those recordings and run a separate interview post soon. Right now we're going to step back and take a longer view at what we learned today.

After spending about an hour listening to Iribe and Mitchell answering questions from myself and other reporters gathered around the campfire, the question I heard asked the most was "what non-gaming uses do you have planned for VR?" And the answer was the same every time: right now it's about gaming. That's where this starts.

Of course, behind closed doors, the company is likely investigating and researching a million and a half non-gaming uses for VR, but it also knows that the gaming world is by far the most ready and willing to accept VR today. That's VR's "in."

You can't open a bunch of virtual reality movie theaters tomorrow, and expect anyone but VR geeks to show up. You can't run a VR livestream of the 2015 NBA finals and expect half the world to shut off their TV sets and strap on goggles to watch LeBron and Steph. They simply aren't ready.

Getting non-gamers into this – not to mention getting content creators to dream of and create different kinds of non-gaming VR experiences – is going to take time. You'd be foolish to think Oculus isn't thinking about this, but it's long term. Right now it's gaming, gaming, gaming.

And Oculus made three big moves today to enhance the Rift as a gaming platform: bundling it with an Xbox One controller, allowing you to use it (indirectly) with Xbox One games and, perhaps most of all, the Oculus Touch controllers.

Why both an Xbox One controller and Oculus Touch? It's partially about moving at a realistic pace (honoring the past with a foot in the future) but it's also about offering different control schemes for different types of games.

Oculus Touch, which can make you feel like you have real hands in virtual worlds, is tailor-made for first-person titles. The Xbox One controller is going to excel with third-person games.

There's also the fact that developers have already spent years making Oculus games based on traditional control schemes. It's to the platform's advantage to give every buyer that same familiar controller, the one with the most momentum up to this point, right in the box. Oculus Touch – and its evolutions – are the future, but there may always be a place for that classic console controller experience in VR. For at least some types of games.

Being able to use Windows 10's built-in Xbox One streaming capabilities with the Rift is an interesting turn. If it can be done with imperceptible latency, then this could potentially mean Xbox One owners could even skip the step of buying an Oculus-ready gaming PC and using whatever Windows device they have lying around to play Xbox games in the Rift. That would never be the most ideal way to use the headset; but it could be a cheaper way to get more people in on the fun.

It also makes it clearer what options hardcore gamers will be looking at. PS4 owners will have Morpheus. PC gamers will have the Oculus Rift. And now Xbox One owners will also have Oculus Rift. If you thought that Sony would have a huge advantage based on the sheer fact that it was console-based, well, Oculus now has a foot in that door as well.

... and its partnership with Microsoft could be pointing to a more direct relationship with the Xbox down the road. That's speculation at this point, but it makes sense.

Maybe the most encouraging thing about today's event is that Oculus VR is taking PC gaming – something that's usually complex – and making it simpler than you might expect. There's a clear set of PC specs that are recommended for the Rift. Everyone gets the same controller. Headphones are built right into the goggles. Xbox One owners can even skip all of that and use the console they already have.

Oculus' biggest challenge may be finding some degree of uniformity in the PC gaming world – one that's typically scattered and fragmented. But these moves show us that the company a) knows exactly what its challenges are, and b) is answering that call in some very clever – possibly innovative – ways.

This new frontier is very fascinating, and we'll have much more on the Oculus Rift launch soon (including those interview details we promised). Be sure to check back at Gizmag.

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Leica Q boasts a full frame sensor and fixed 28-mm F1.7 lens

The Leica Q is a stylish full frame fixed lens compact camera

After much speculation, Leica has finally announced its new full frame fixed lens camera. The drool-inducing Leica Q (Typ 116) is a high-end compact which pairs a 24-megapixel CMOS sensor with a Summilux 28-mm F1.7 lens. The stylish camera also features mod cons including a contrast-based autofocus system along with a high resolution electronic viewfinder and a 3-inch rear touchscreen.

While the Leica Q has looks which are sure to win it fans, it's the pairing of a 24-megapixel full frame CMOS sensor and a Leica Summilux 28-mm F1.7 lens which will make many photographers sit up and take notice. This combo makes it very clear the Leica Q is all about delivering the best image quality possible and it isn't going to make any compromises. The camera also uses a newly-developed processor from the Leica Maestro II series, and has an ISO range of up to 50,000.

Unlike the Leica M cameras it resembles, the Q is not a rangefinder and instead brings the convenience of a high end compact camera to a full frame Leica. A contrast-based autofocus system promises fast focusing and allows face recognition and subject tracking. Aperture and shutter priority shooting options, along with an automatic program mode, also show that this is one of the most accessible full frame Leica cameras ever. There are even selectable scene modes which really prove the camera doesn't require a level of Leica literacy to use.

That said, and as you'd expect from a high-end Leica camera, there are still plenty of manual control options. On the top of the camera there's a shutter speed dial, while aperture and focusing are controlled on the lens. When using manual focus, users can use a magnifying function and edge marking (focus peaking) to ensure the subject is sharp.

Measuring 130 x 80 x 93 mm (5.1 x 3.1 x 3.6 in) and weighing 640 g (22.5 oz) with a battery, the body of the Q unsurprisingly falls between the M and APS-C fixed lens Leica X cameras. In typical Leica style, the top plate of the Q is crafted from a solid block of aluminum, and the body is made of magnesium alloy. The Q also boasts the Leica "Made in Germany" seal of quality and is not a Panasonic collaboration.

The styling of the fixed lens on the Leica Q is very much like an M lens and it comes with a matching lens hood. In addition to its aperture and focus rings the lens features a focus tab and a Macro mode ring which reduces the minimal focal distance from 30 cm (12 in) to 17 cm (6.7 in), and also changes the distance scale on the barrel accordingly, which is a nice touch. It should be noted that while the lens is a fixed 28-mm focal length, the Q offers 35-mm and 50-mm crop modes. However, though JPEGs will be cropped, RAW files will still show the full frame.

Around the back of the camera there's a high resolution 1280 x 960 pixel electronic viewfinder, which can display the 28-mm view along with focal lengths of 35 mm and 50 mm on demand. Being built-in it means there's no need for an unsightly and bulky add-on like the X-cameras.

Below this is a 3-inch touchscreen with 1,040 dots, though interestingly Leica has opted not to go all in with the touchscreen UI like the Leica T and the Q features a familiar selection of buttons. A thumb rest indentation is said to make the camera more comfortable and secure to hold.

Other mod cons on the Leica Q include built-in Wi-Fi and NFC for users to share pictures and videos, or operate the camera remotely with the Leica Q app (which is available for Android and iOS smartphones). It can also record Full HD 1080p video footage at 60/30 fps (frames per second).

The Leica Q is available now priced at US$4,250. It will come with a downloadable version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.

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