3 ms·

> If the TMT costs X, then the 100-MT should cost about 11X, and with the 15% doubling factor, its ~15X for only a 3X increase in radius. The Thirty Meter Tele

> If the TMT costs X, then the 100-MT should cost about 11X, and with the 15% doubling factor, its ~15X for only a 3X increase in radius. The Thirty Meter Telescope cost $1 billion. So the 100 Metre Overwhelmingly Large Telescope would cost ~$15 billion using your ~15x multiplier. That's large, but for perspective: The F-35 fighter jet program cost $168 billion. Like with the Large Hadron Collider, if the extra cost means the difference between being able to crucially measure the atmospheric spectra of nearby exosolar planets and not being able to, then the extra cost is worth it. I'll take getting definite answers to humanity's most pressing questions, over new tools for killing people, any day.

Balgair 9y ago
As would I! Unfortunately, it seems the Realist sect of International Relations seems to be en vouge these last few decades. That said, there is an existential threat to 'science' in general with these large and impossible to replicate engineering experiments. They kinda get subsumed into the 'Big Science' camp where the budgets mean more than anything else and then incentives get muddied. In the physics field, there is still enough animosity and ego between the researchers to keep it all in 'science' and the results don't get massaged like in bio where it's all 'Big Science' now and the results get tweaked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(international_relations) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(international_relatio...