So, the equivalent of over half a century of the DARPA budget ($3 billion/yr) five times over, or two National Science Foundations ($7 billion/year), or half of

So, the equivalent of over half a century of the DARPA budget ($3 billion/yr) five times over, or two National Science Foundations ($7 billion/year), or half of another National Institutes of Health ($30 billion/year). The NSF alone is responsible for over 20% of public nonmedical basic research in the United States so for the price of one boondoggle we can increase that total pool of funding by 50%. For over half a century. Or we could nearly double NASA's budget and give it an economy of scale it hasn't had since the Apollo program to carry out even more basic research into astrophysics, climate change and metrology, geophysics, flight, material science, and countless other technologies that actually trickle down into the public market