The plant, Desert Rock, is owned jointly by the tribe's power authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power, which in turn is majority-owned by Blackstone, a large private-equity firm.

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The Mojave Desert and the Black Rock Desert are both featured in the film, the latter known in recent years for being the site of the annual Burning Man festival, a week-long event during which thousands of people camp out in the desert with the goal of creating a temporary city based on principles of community and self reliance.

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In 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, he drove Thrust SSC to become the first person to break the sound barrier in a car and set the existing land-speed record of 763mph.

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The lakes cover 59, 000 hectares of rock and desert land.

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The closed canyon features massive rock formations and rugged desert trails.

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Even if the delicate digital hardware running these machines keeps going, and even if they are the smartest roving robots this side of Mars, navigating through the scrub, dust and rock of the Mojave desert represents a complex challenge.

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It takes its name from the huge, red rock that stands aloof in the desert, towering above a narrow ridge that points towards it like an arrow.

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The early pace had been set by Rock of Gibraltar's stablemate Sahara Desert, who led by as much as four lengths at the halfway stage.

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