[jackbill]

Reminds me of a "government boondagle" being funded by the National Science Foundation. It's called LIGO for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The NSF has been funding the construction of two such observatories, one in Hanford, WA and one in Livingston, LA. CalTech and MIT are the principal investigators.

The "observatories" each consist of two 6' diameter stainless steel vacuum "beam tunnels", each 2.5 miles long and about 6 ft. in diameter, at right angles to each other.

The difference in gravitational waves in the interferometer is expected to be several orders of magnitude smaller than a human hair.

How much is this costing the taxpayers?

Looking at the web site for the NSF, it appears that spending so far is about $400 million. That's from the NSF. It is virtually impossible to find out if other government agencies are sharing the cost.

Your tax dollars at work.

[Physicist]

Are you saying that it's not going to work, or that you simply know better than the several panels of scientists who reviewed LIGO in detail, and concluded that it was the most important research that could be done with the money?

[RadioAstronomer]

Were you also in favor of killing the SSC too?

[abandon]

It's called LIGO for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

Why is this a "boondagle?"