IN BRIEF
ANNUAL FESTIVAL
Hobbyists experiment with rockets in desert
More than 200 rocket enthusiasts, during a weekend festival in the Nevada desert, launched experimental models much bigger than typical bottle rockets.
Organizers of the 17th annual Tripoli Rocketry Association National Experimental Launch said the Friday through Sunday event near Gerlach brought fans of aeronautics from as far away as Australia.
Organizer Matt Clark of Glendale, Ariz., said building and launching rockets is different from other hobbies because it's unforgiving. He said rockets either launch properly or end in small, burning pieces.
EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES
Commercial rocket launches successfully
An Internet entrepreneur's latest effort to make space launches more affordable paid off Sunday when his commercial rocket, carrying a dummy payload, was lofted into orbit from the South Pacific.
The effort was the fourth attempt by Space Exploration Technologies to launch its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit.
"Fourth time's a charm," said Elon Musk, the multimillionaire who started the company after making his fortune as the co-founder of PayPal Inc., the electronic payment system.
BLACK HOLE FEARS
Judge throws out atom smasher lawsuit
A federal judge in Honolulu, Hawaii, has dismissed a lawsuit trying to stop the world's largest atom smasher.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gilmor said in a ruling issued Friday that federal courts do not have jurisdiction over the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, near Geneva.
Two Hawaii residents sued because they feared the machine could create black holes or other phenomena that could destroy the planet.
Most physicists have said the collider is safe. It started low-power operation Sept. 10 but suffered malfunctions and will be shut down until spring.
