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[Sergarr]

depends on how well they're faking it

[palsch]

NASA's big budget increase looks confirmed in the latest spending bill. Breakdown of where the money is going.


Climate conference ends in a document. More than it looked like they would get on Friday, although still not amazing.

[Sirus]

NASA getting more money? Hell yeah.

[10ebbor10]

Technically, they still loose money due to inflation, IIRC.

[Reelya]

It's still an increase after inflation: a 2% increase in the NASA budget from last year, and inflation averaged 1.7% for Oct 2013 - Oct 2014.

[Furtuka]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/15/defense-department-tests-50-caliber-bullet/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139071-DARPA-Creates-Self-Guided-Extreme-Accuracy-Tasked-Ordinance
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/22252/20141215/darpa-testing-bullets-that-change-direction-after-shot-is-fired.htm

[Bauglir]

Note to self: Don't piss off DARPA.

Oh, hey, my set of notes remains unchanged.

[Frumple]

... exacto bullets. Seriously? Did they attach verniers to a knife or something?

E: Hrm. The method is apparently a "closely held secret". Hope to zeus I didn't just inadvertently violate a non-disclosure agreement or something. I don't want exacto bullets coming through my window in their rockety knife-like glory.

[TheDarkStar]

-Note to self: Read the article before commenting.-

[olemars]

Bullets are so 20th century.

[Moghjubar]

... exacto bullets. Seriously? Did they attach verniers to a knife or something?

E: Hrm. The method is apparently a "closely held secret". Hope to zeus I didn't just inadvertently violate a non-disclosure agreement or something. I don't want exacto bullets coming through my window in their rockety knife-like glory.

Soon:

[Descan]

Let's hope they don't press the red button.

[alway]

In other news, whereas the Curiosity rover had previously not detected methane, it now apparently has: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30456664

It shows up from time to time, blown in from some source in the rim of the crater to the north. Which opens up the potential to determine whether it is caused by life if they can get a decent sample of it:

One way to investigate whether the methane on Mars has a biological or a geological origin would be to study the types, or isotopes, of carbon atom in the gas.

On Earth, life favours a lighter version of the element (carbon-12), over a heavier one (carbon-13).

A high C-12 to C-13 ratio in ancient Earth rocks has been interpreted as evidence that biological activity existed on our world as much as four billion years ago.

If scientists could find similar evidence on Mars, it would be startling. But, sadly, the volumes of methane detected by Curiosity are simply too small to run this kind of experiment.

"If we had enriched our sample during one of the peaks, we might have had a shot at looking at these isotopes," explained Dr Mahaffy.

"I think there is still some hope. If the methane comes back, and we can enrich it, we'll certainly be trying."

[Lagslayer]

I was wondering if I was gonna have to be the one to make a Fifth Element reference.

[alway]

Oh and they detected other organic compounds on Mars too, so tons of chemistry stuff to investigate which should tell much more about Mars' past.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4413

Curiosity also detected different Martian organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars. These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites.

Organic molecules, which contain carbon and usually hydrogen, are chemical building blocks of life, although they can exist without the presence of life. Curiosity's findings from analyzing samples of atmosphere and rock powder do not reveal whether Mars has ever harbored living microbes, but the findings do shed light on a chemically active modern Mars and on favorable conditions for life on ancient Mars.