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The World's Nine Largest Science Projects

Posted by samzenpus on from the my-science-is-bigger-than-yours dept.

JBG667 writes "Nice overview of the 9 largest science projects currently ongoing. Some of the usual suspects are on the list including CERN, Space Elevator, Space Station, etc. As well as some lesser known including a 3,000-foot-tall 'Solar tower,' the ANTARES underwater neutrino detecting array, and more. Nice read for science buffs."

20 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. So I guess the Internet is off the list? by syousef · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess it's now so accepted that people forget it's beginnings as a DARPA experiment. Or perhaps it's just outgrown it's experimental status.

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    1. Re:So I guess the Internet is off the list? by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even if you consider the initial development of the internet as a science project, the project itself was fairly small. Do you consider research into vehicles and transportation to be a big science project just because there are millions of them on the road now?

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  2. Global warming: planet sized by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    and a few astronomical projects that are even bigger than that.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  3. WTF! The space elevator? by pallmall1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How can the "space elevator" be listed? It's long on hype and short on actual effort.

    I built a model of the starship Enterprise a long time ago. Building a starship is a pretty big project, so shouldn't it be listed as well?

    --
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  4. wrong wrong wrong by ILuvRamen · · Score: 2, Informative

    First of all, a couple links are broken and there's major spelling errors. But to get to my real point, it says "one 200MW power station will provide enough electricity to around 200,000 typical Australian households." Oh boy, households being used as a unit of electricity again! Okay, let's do the math. That's 1000 watts per house. Wow, so everyone can have one light bulb on while their small microwave is running and that's it. Most people have 1000 watts in lights on at any given time let alone cooking and heating and cooling. What a load of bullshit. I hate sensationalist stats that are horribly, HORRIBLY incorrect.

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    1. Re:wrong wrong wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Okay, let's do the math. That's 1000 watts per house. Wow, so everyone can have one light bulb on while their small microwave is running and that's it. Most people have 1000 watts in lights on at any given time let alone cooking and heating and cooling. What a load of bullshit. I hate sensationalist stats that are horribly, HORRIBLY incorrect. No, you're horrible, HORRIBLY incorrect. 1000 watts used constantly is around (24*30=)720 kilowatt-hours per month. This is a very reasonable amount of usage for an average household. Go check the usage on an electricity bill if you don't believe me.

      (For interest's sake, my wife and I together use around 600 kilowatt-hours every month, and thats with a computer running 24/7, AC, and nothing fancy like energy-saving bulbs.)

    2. Re:wrong wrong wrong by zaydana · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're forgetting that they're building the plant here in Australia. Electricity was only recently introduced in Australia (think last few years), so many houses don't actually have many electrical appliances, preferring to rely on more proven technologies such as candles, fireplaces and kangaroos.

    3. Re:wrong wrong wrong by uuxququex · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Is 720 kWh really reasonable in your part of the world?

      I'm using 1700 kWh a year and that is about average for my a dutch household. Heating and cooking is gas-based and obviously there is no AC needed here.

    4. Re:wrong wrong wrong by man_ls · · Score: 2, Interesting

      1700 kWh/year? That's insane.

      I think I probably use 13,000 kWh/year and I consider myself to be relatively conservative compared with many other people whose power consumption I know. F@H/SETI boxes running 24/7, extra servers running their blogs, etc.

    5. Re:wrong wrong wrong by Shinobi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We're 3 people in this apartment, here in Sweden. No AC, no electrical heating, but electric stove, multiple computers, gaming consoles etc, and we're averaging around 4000kWh/year.

      Low-energy lights, the only computers that are constantly on 24/7 are the Via C3/C7's saving a lot of power etc.

    6. Re:wrong wrong wrong by smallfries · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, his numbers are quite reasonable. You Americans have no idea about efficiency and you probably waste more power than the average European household uses in total.

      I share a one-bed (ie 4 rooms, I would guess about 100m^2) flat with my girlfriend. This is a typical sized household for the UK (although the average size is obviously larger). We average 5 kWh per day (so ~1600 kWh per month). We don't live in the dark, the flat is warm over the winter despite the horrific lack of insulation and we are hardly living in the stone age. From the couch I can see three games consoles, three computers, flat-screen tv etc...

      Your power consumption is seven times larger than ours (ignoring fuel consumption which is a major component). You are not conservative by any measure, just because you think you are at the low-usage end of the most wasteful, polluting nation on earth. Do you ever wonder why the rest of the world wants you to hold back on the raping the planet?

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  5. How Many Tenths Of A Trillion Dollars!? by mactard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better question: how many Libraries of Congress (LoC) would it cost to build a trans-atlantic maglev train. Dumb article.

  6. From TFA by zaydana · · Score: 3, Informative

    "With a large mirror, 6.5 meter (21.3 feet) diameter mirror the $5 billion+ [James Webb Space Telescope] will launch folded up inside the space shuttle and then unfold to its full-size - several times that of Hubble." Launching a spacecraft to a 1.5 million km orbit with the space shuttle in 2013. Its good to see the discovery channel has done their research. Honestly, I expected more from these guys...

  7. Another factual error by Ai+Olor-Wile · · Score: 4, Informative

    The article suggests that the James Webb Space Telescope will be launched from the Space Shuttle, and somehow make it out to 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. Wikipedia likes to note that an Ariane 5 rocket will be used instead. This is a surprisingly flawed story!

  8. Take this list with a grain of salt. by AbRASiON · · Score: 4, Informative

    Perhaps my googling and wikipedia skills are off the mark but I was looking up large buildings just earlier this week and that solar tower in Australia seems to be on hold / cancelled.

    Last info I could find mentioned the company attempting to do the same thing but in texas now, infact that entire project has been quiet / off the grid for maybe over a year.

    If that's wrong, what else on the list isn't happening?

  9. Re:WTF! The space elevator? by damburger · · Score: 2, Informative

    NASA has already run competitions to build elevator climbers. There are millions (perhaps billions) being invested in the development of carbon nanotubes as a viable building material. If such time, energy and money were being spent on building a warp drive, then you might have a point.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
  10. Typical Discovery Channel... by tgd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Half the "projects" are imaginary, the other half are explained poorly or just plain wrong.

    Trans-atlantic tunnel? Space elevator? We might as well say the establishment of psychohistory and a Foundation to guide the development of humanity is an equally large science project.

    And whats with the passing jab at cold fusion in the ITER blurb? Poor attempt at a joke? Author who doesn't understand the difference? Or perhaps someone not aware about how much research actually is happening in that space?

    I'd say they should be embarassed, but they're probably off watching "Ghost Hunters", I think the new season started on the Discovery Channel recently ...

    1. Re:Typical Discovery Channel... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Funny

      At least theyre not watching the history channel. I believe the current lineup is:

      5pm: Jesus vs Bigfoot. Which one is hiding in the wilderness?

      6pm: Rare Sighting: Hitler's Ghost. Does it have a message for us?

      7pm: Random "Weekly World News" articles turned into TV shows.

      8pm: Some random thing about Rome with lots of gladiatorial combat and boobage.

      9pm: 9/11 conspiracy theories.

      10pm: An Atlantis "documentary"

      11pm: Another Atlantis "docuentary" this time with quotes for certified "researchers."

      12pm: Something else about Jesus, Hitler, or 9/11. Or all three at once (Hitler planned 9/11 when Jesus was sleeping.)

  11. Here's the official numbers by uuxququex · · Score: 5, Informative
    I found the official numbers of the national budget institute (NIBUD). You can see that the average consumption is quite a bit lower than your expenditure.

    Mechanical translation provided by Google, just scroll down to "Electricity".

    1 person household: 2220 kWh
    2 person household: 3095 kWh
    3 person household: 3875 kWh

    Average over all households: 3230 kWh

  12. Do Androids? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do Androids Shear Electric Sheep?

    Jes' askin'...

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