This is what a supercar was like a century ago

This is what a supercar was like a century ago

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

Bentley provided flights from Washington, DC, to Monterey, California, and accommodation so Ars could drive the new Supersports and ride in a preproduction Torcal EV, which we wrote about last week. While we were there, we went for a ride in something quite old. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

MONTEREY, Calif.—Elsewhere on these pages, you can find our first track drive of the new Bentley Supersports. Shorn of its hybrid system and stripped back to rear-wheel drive, it's not only the most driver-focused Bentley we can remember, but it's also apparently the lightest car the company has made in 85 years. But you have to go back even further into the Bentley archive to find the first car to wear the Super Sports badge. And since Bentley had done just that, bringing along to Laguna Seca an example from the time, it would have been rude to refuse the offer of a ride.

Bentley built 18 Super Sports between 1925 and 1927, taking its standard 3 Litre model and shortening the wheelbase by 9.5 inches (241 mm). Like today's Super Sports, that shaved some mass and made it a more responsive driver's car. But a fast one, too. The radiator was more tapered and thus presented less resistance against the flow of air, although like many cars at the time, the bodywork was a matter of whichever coachbuilder the owner decided upon.

Smoky's two-seat bodywork was compact for the time.

The lever for the three-speed transmission is just outside the car. Not sure the FIA or NHTSA would let you get away with that today. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Like today with the Continental GT and the new Supersports, the 3.0 L engine Bentley in the original Super Sports was more special than one you'd find in the standard car, with new pistons, a lighter flywheel, more compression, and different carburetors. Together with its unique gearing, the factory would guarantee a Super Sports that could exceed 100 mph (160 km/h); the millions of Ford Model Ts that took the roads those same years were hard-pushed to break 40 mph (64 km/h).

Read full article

Comments

It turns out that Orion's much-maligned heat shield performed really well

It turns out that Orion's much-maligned heat shield performed really well

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

Perhaps the biggest question going into the Artemis II mission this spring was how the heat shield at the base of the spacecraft would perform during reentry through Earth's atmosphere.

The ablative heat shield, designed to char upon reentry while keeping the crew safe, had experienced unexpected losses of large chunks during a test flight in late 2022. After much deliberation, and not without controversy, NASA decided to fly the Artemis II heat shield as is but modify the spacecraft's reentry trajectory.

Obviously, the heat shield worked. The crew of Artemis II, led by commander Reid Wiseman, safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a triumphant trip around the Moon. Afterward, they and other NASA officials offered general comments, saying the heat shield looked good.

Read full article

Comments

Without new landers or rovers, it's helicopters or bust for NASA's Mars program

Without new landers or rovers, it's helicopters or bust for NASA's Mars program

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

For the first time in more than 30 years, NASA has no firm plans to send any new landers or rovers to Mars. Instead, the agency's near-term focus at the red planet is on aerial drones, a pioneering mode of exploration that didn't seem realistic until a few years ago.

The first real use of drones for science at Mars will come with the SkyFall mission, a fleet of three helicopters set for launch as soon as late 2028. SkyFall's helicopters will ride to the red planet with NASA's Space Reactor-1 "Freedom" mission, which has the primary objective of demonstrating nuclear electric propulsion in deep space.

The launch schedule is aggressive for SR-1 Freedom and SkyFall, projects that didn't even exist in NASA's portfolio six months ago. NASA's plan for the SR-1 Freedom mission, estimated to cost $2.1 billion, calls for repurposing the core module of the canceled Gateway lunar space station into a testbed for nuclear electric propulsion. SkyFall will build on NASA's success with the Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental vehicle that became the first rotorcraft to fly on another world in 2021.

Read full article

Comments

Private group wants to launch "cheapest possible" mission to Alpha Centauri

Private group wants to launch "cheapest possible" mission to Alpha Centauri

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

There are, by various estimates, several trillion planets within what is known as the Local Group of galaxies—our closest galaxy neighbors, including our own Milky Way. Many of these planets are within the habitable zone of their stars. So if life finds a way, where are the alien civilizations?

This is the crux of what is known as the Fermi paradox, which posits that if life is fairly common in the Universe, humans should have collected credible evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations by now. People who think about this paradox believe there may be some "filter" that limits or entirely prevents an advanced civilization from sending out probes or even life-bearing spacecraft to nearby stars.

Philip Johnston is someone who thinks a lot about the Fermi paradox. A mathematician and physicist from the United Kingdom, Johnston has gained some notoriety lately in the space community as one of the biggest proponents of orbital data centers. He co-founded Starcloud in 2024 to develop such data centers, and the company is presently valued at $2.3 billion.

Read full article

Comments

Trump admin shelves Cyclospora research despite record-breaking outbreak

Trump admin shelves Cyclospora research despite record-breaking outbreak

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

The Trump administration is halting vital federal research on the foodborne parasite Cyclospora, despite the record-breaking, nationwide outbreak of the diarrheal pathogen, according to Politico.

Of the three research programs that represent nearly all of the Cyclospora work at the US Department of Agriculture, two have been defunded, and the third is about to lose every scientist working on it. The Trump administration is shuttering the USDA's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center near Washington, DC, and moving its work to a location in Iowa. That includes relocating the remaining Cyclospora research.

Although the research is still funded, insiders told Politico that not one of the scientists working on the project plans to relocate from Maryland to Iowa. Instead, they are either retiring, being reassigned to a different project, or leaving the USDA's research services.

Read full article

Comments

Get in on the Ars community that doesn’t fit beneath an article

Get in on the Ars community that doesn’t fit beneath an article

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

If you’re like many of our readers, you’ve got Ars Technica bookmarked and hit the front page a few times a day. But for others, a compelling story is what brings them here for the first time. And the discussions sometimes keep them coming back.

Since its launch in 1998, Ars Technica has been known for its depth of community. If all you're doing is checking out the front page and the discussion threads that sit beneath each story, you’re missing out on more than you realize.

The Ars OpenForum is a place for readers to ask questions, compare notes, argue (without being jerks to each other), and go down all sorts of rabbit holes. Our Hardware and Tweaking forums cover PC builds, networking, mobile computing, CPUs and motherboards, A/V, and just about any other hardware-related topic you can think of. Stop by the Operating Systems & Software forums for in-depth discussion on Windows, macOS, or Linux or just to have a good, friendly argument over why your preferred OS rules.

Read full article

Comments

Review: Coyote vs. Acme is an unabashed love letter to Looney Tunes

Review: Coyote vs. Acme is an unabashed love letter to Looney Tunes

fivenewscrypto    septembre 02, 2026   

It took three years, but Coyote vs. Acme is finally in theaters and delighting audiences of all ages with its irresistible blend of slapstick humor, pointed satire, and even a warm fuzzy here and there. We're happy to report that the film was worth the wait.

(Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)

The film is based on a well-known satirical piece by Ian Frazier (also titled “Coyote vs. Acme”) published in The New Yorker in 1990. Development of a film version didn’t start until 2018, but some pretty talented people worked on the script, including James Gunn. Small wonder that Warner Bros.’ bizarre 2023 decision to shelve the film in order to take a tax write-off sparked outrage both within the industry and among fans online.

Read full article

Comments