The most unique projects in the world. The most ambitious construction projects of our day. Atlanta Falcons Stadium, Atlanta
Basic science can be an exciting and truly global undertaking. To prove this, we have collected in this review 7 of the biggest and most incredible science projects in history.
There is a joke in the world of physics: "Once every few million years, physicists on some planet get together and build the Large Hadron Collider." It ridicules information from the yellow press, according to which the launch of this object can lead to the emergence of a Black hole and the destruction of the Earth.
Of course, nothing like this can happen. But such rumors drew the attention of the general public to the world's largest experimental facility, the construction of which began in 2001.
The Large Hadron Collider is a huge particle accelerator. The length of its main ring is 26659 meters. And more than 10 thousand scientists and engineers from more than a hundred countries of the world are already involved in the creation of this facility and work with it. The cost of building the LHC is estimated at 10 billion US dollars.
The challenges facing this collider are enormous. But the main one is the search for the Higgs boson - an elementary particle, which is also called the "particle of God."
International Experimental Fusion Reactor
Thermonuclear energy in the future may become the main world energy. However, so far no one has been able to build a stable reactor that could be used commercially. But such an object is expected to be completed in 2020.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) was laid down in 2007 in the south of France, sixty kilometers from Marseille. The construction of this facility was originally planned to be completed by 2016, but now these dates have been shifted to 2020. The total estimate of the project already exceeds 15 billion euros.
Scientists and engineers from the EU (the community acts as a whole), China, the USA, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan are working on the project.
Doomsday Vault
Scientists, unlike most politicians, are able to think not only about the present, but also about the future. Therefore, they try to predict the diverse development of various events, including their own actions. To protect their descendants from the food crisis, they created an unusual warehouse on the Svalbard archipelago, which is commonly called the Doomsday Vault.
We are talking about a huge bunker in an underground system of caves, which is not afraid of any external cataclysms. This storage can withstand a nuclear strike, a meteorite fall and other global troubles.
Inside the Doomsday Vault are millions of tons of seeds from thousands of fruitful varieties. They lie there safe and sound, not to be eaten one day. This is an invaluable reserve of the gene pool, on the basis of which, in the event of irreversible catastrophic events, it will be possible to restore lost plant species or develop new ones.
These seeds are found at a depth of more than 100 meters under the rocky surface. In the room with them, a constant temperature of -18 degrees is set to slow down the metabolism and, consequently, the aging of the seeds as much as possible. Under such conditions, they can be completely ready for cultivation even after a thousand years.
There is no being closer in the world to man than man himself. And although we do not know everything about ourselves, fundamental science is trying in every possible way to get closer to a complete understanding of life as such.
One of the largest studies in this direction was the Human Genome Project, which was launched in 1990 under the leadership of James Watson under the auspices of the US National Health Organization. Scientists have set themselves the goal of completely deciphering the human genome, consisting of 20-25 thousand genes.
The main work on this project ended in 2003, but additional analysis of some parts of the human genome is still underway.
In addition to purely scientific purposes, this project also has many applications. For example, the complete decoding of the human genome allows the development of much more effective medicines.
Ocean Census
Mankind knows the land part of our planet quite well, but it is very mediocre in understanding what is happening under water. To correct this imbalance, the scientific community launched a massive project in 2000 called the Census of Marine Life.
At the beginning of the project, scientists posed three basic questions:
Who lived in the ocean?
Who lives in the ocean?
Who will live in the ocean?
Thousands of specialists have been looking for answers to these questions all over the planet for ten years in the framework of more than five hundred scientific expeditions. As a result, a huge database was created, consisting of a detailed description of one hundred and twenty-odd thousand species of ocean creatures.
At the same time, as part of the research, more than six thousand new species of marine living organisms were discovered for the first time.
The International Space Station is currently the largest and most expensive scientific project in history. Its total value has already exceeded $100 billion.
The operation of the ISS began on November 20, 1998, when its first module, the Zarya cargo block, was launched into orbit. Now it consists of thirteen elements that belong to Russia, the US, the EU and Japan. Brazil, Canada and Switzerland also participate in the ISS program.
The International Space Station is a huge orbiting scientific laboratory where experiments are carried out that require the unique conditions of space flight: microgravity, vacuum, and radiation unattenuated by the earth's atmosphere.
A maximum of six astronauts can live on the ISS at the same time.
In November 2014, a unique event in the history of space exploration by Man took place. The first device created on Earth landed on a comet and sent scientific data from there.
The Rosetta space probe was sent to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko back in 2004. In the spring of 2014, he approached a celestial object, collected cartographic data about it in the summer, and in November, the Philae remote-controlled apparatus landed on the surface of the planet.
For four days, Philae explored the comet with a variety of instruments, while transmitting information to Earth. Having exhausted the supply of energy, the device turned off in order to work again in the future when the solar panels fill its batteries with electricity a little.
The landing of the Philae spacecraft on the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet has become one of the most ambitious projects in the history of science in general.
If the budget were rubber, scientists would bring us new discoveries every day - whether it was an unseen beast, an unknown material, or a great cosmic mystery. But what did those who took wealthy patrons give to the world?
Expensive space projects dedicated to space exploration
Even in ancient times, people dreamed of flying to the stars. The Egyptians built pyramids, focusing on the position of the heavenly bodies, and the Greeks told myths about the visit of the inhabitants of the moon. Now, when a person has been in space and stepped foot on the surface of the satellite of our planet, the thirst to know the mysteries of the Universe has reached unprecedented proportions.Shuttle Columbia launch
Ten years ago, this tragic story spread all over the world. In 2002, the pride of the American nation - the shuttle "Columbia" - having undergone repairs and improvements, soared into the sky from Cape Canaveral.But the fate of the ship was unenviable: at first, the cooling system malfunctioned, and soon cracks were found on the pipes supplying fuel. On February 1, 2003, as the space shuttle was preparing to land, it broke into pieces in mid-air. The crew, consisting of 7 people, did not have the slightest chance of staying alive. The cause of the disaster was a jet of hot air that penetrated the Columbia through a hole formed during the launch. Losses from the failed star project reached $13 billion.
The Large Hadron Collider
Gloomy prophecies predicted that our cozy planet would cease to exist due to the fault of the Large Hadron Collider. Fortunately, none of them has come true yet. The blue ball continues its dimensional rotation around the Sun. 
The grandiose development, hidden from prying eyes deep underground between France and Switzerland, has already given us an unusual discovery. When hadrons heading towards opposite ends of the giant looped tube collided, the sensors were able to detect the Higgs boson responsible for the birth of the universe. While scientists are wondering what else this experiment can bring to science, the miracle of engineering is once again under repair. Its creation has already cost the world 4.4 billion dollars.
Flight to Mars and launch of the rover
"Curiosity" - this is how the creators of the most equipped rover in the history of mankind called their expensive creation. Curiosity, launched into space in the summer of 2012, is not to be greeted by its clothes. Although it looks scarcely larger than a jeep, it is sharp-sighted like a falcon and agile like a shrew. And while the taxpayers are blaming that the explorer of the Red Planet is riding for no reason, his creators are jubilant. 
Recently, the rover, having overcome the stone rubble at Mount Sharp and almost bogged down in the silt dunes of the Hidden Valley, started drilling. Curiosity has unearthed silicon deposits and has come close to unraveling the mystery of the formation of the planet's crust. Although the achievements of the machine are still doubtful, the cost of this project has already exceeded 2.3 billion greenbacks.
Expensive scientific projects on Earth
The best minds of the research community are not busy with space alone. There are much more ambitious plans on the agenda.Fusion Research
In pursuit of the most profitable way to produce energy, scientists are ready to implement the craziest ideas and even risk their health. Work on the implementation of thermonuclear fusion began in 1985. Soon, China, India and South Korea joined Japan, the European Union, the United States and Russia, which focused on building a tokamak research reactor in France. Each member of the scientific fraternity helps the project in any way they can: with money, technology, personnel or their own research. 
It remains to be hoped that the child of seven nannies will not be left without an eye, and in 2020, as promised, the reactor will begin its operation. Even now, with plasma confinement and deuterium and tritium fusion operations loom far beyond the horizon, the cost of research is approaching $22 billion.
Accounting for fish and squid
At the beginning of the new millennium, natural scientists from all over the world gathered a council and decided: it's time to create a census of all the inhabitants of the deep sea. The work went in full swing: while the money was pouring in, scientists compiled an unprecedented list. Their work, presented to the world in 2010, has become the most complete encyclopedia of aquatic inhabitants. 
Its pages tell about the environment in which 250 thousand representatives of marine fauna live, and even contain the duration of their existence. "Census of Marine life" made many interesting discoveries: for example, he described 6 thousand microorganisms previously unknown to science and the ancestor of all octopuses, Megaleledone setebos. This project, designed to understand marine life, cost over $1.2 billion.
Systematization of proteomes
At the end of the last century, genetic engineer Mark Wilkins, speaking at an international symposium, operated with a new term. Its proteome, which linked together the "protein" and the "genome", combined the entire complex of proteins in a living organism. Since then, researchers from different countries have been tirelessly struggling to figure out how to read cell proteomes and their totality in the body. The Special Organization of the Human Proteome, which coordinates the activities of scientific groups, finds out from which amino acids a protein is formed and what its functional purpose is. The work goes with a creak, because, unlike the DNA helix, the composition of proteins in the body is constantly changing. More than a billion dollars has already been spent on a project capable of raising medicine to a qualitatively new level. 
When the bill goes to hundreds of millions, and at stake is universal recognition and the laurels of a hero of world history, there is no need to waste time on trifles. And then the real legends are born.
The most expensive science project to date
Building the largest man-made object in outer space is by far the most expensive scientific experiment. The creation of the International Space Station and its constant upgrade has already cost taxpayers more than 100 billion euros. After the first functional module "Dawn", launched into orbit back in 1998, the base for studying the universe turned into a toy for the powers that be. 
Space experiments are carried out on the ISS: for example, they kindle a fire from water or arrange mini-fires, trying to study combustion in microgravity. The extraterrestrial colossus serves as a platform for testing the latest technologies, a resort for space tourists, and even an object for advertising filming. Soon there will be another use for it: from 2015, the ISS will turn into an assembly shop for small aircraft.
Well, the largest planets in the universe, according to the site, remain unexplored.
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Progress requires sacrifice. Sometimes those that exceed the budgets of several countries combined. The selection presents 6 of the most expensive experiments in the history of mankind.
6. Watson supercomputer
Price: $900 million - $1.8 billion
IBM designed this computer with a very specific goal - to reduce the number of medical errors in determining the diagnosis and, in general, automate the diagnostic process. Watson is equipped with 4 terabytes of text data - both structured, including the entire text of the English Wikipedia, and unstructured. With such an unprecedented "intellectual baggage", the supercomputer is also able to answer questions posed in ordinary human language (the so-called natural language, in this case English), analyzing its entire database and giving the correct answer.
In 2011, Watson even participated in Jeopardy, a mind-blowing TV game very popular in the US, and was able to beat his human opponents to win $1 million.
The hardware of the supercomputer is 2880 POWER7 processors (3.5 GHz each) and 16 terabytes of RAM. Subsequently, IBM plans to sell copies of Watson to hospitals for $3 million apiece.
5. Superconducting super collider
Price: $2 billion
Approved by the US Congress in 1983, the American SSC was supposed to become the most powerful collider in the world, surpassing in power even the modern Large Hadron Collider (40 TeV versus 6.5 TeV, respectively), as well as the largest (the collider ring would be 87 kilometers).
At first, the project received wide support, but after a while, problems began. It turned out that the declared price was greatly underestimated, and the real price was too high - $ 4.4 billion. Debates began in Congress about the advisability of further funding, and in 1991 the USSR just collapsed, and the United States lost the need to constantly prove whose science is stronger. These and some other factors played their role, and in 1993 the project was finally closed, having managed to spend $ 2 billion from the budget on it.
The buildings of the semi-abandoned complex, which have darkened over the past decades, however, still stand near the city of Waxahachee (Texas).
Price: $2.5 billion
Thanks to the widest coverage in the media, almost everyone knows about the mission of the Curiosity rover. This is the most expensive and complex apparatus ever to reach the surface of the Red Planet. Its purpose is to study the climate and geology of Mars, study the soil in search of signs of life and the possibility of its existence in the past, as well as collect various data for a future manned flight to Mars. To achieve these goals, the device is equipped with many high-tech devices, the development and implementation of which also took a significant part of the money.
The rover began fulfilling the tasks assigned to it in 2012, having made a successful landing in the Gale crater and started research work. More recently, on June 24, 2014, Curiosity celebrated on the Red Planet the end of the first Martian year of its stay on it (Mars revolves around the Sun in 687 Earth days).
Initially, the mission of the rover was designed for two years, but was subsequently extended indefinitely. The device continues to explore Mars in the regular mode.
3. Large Hadron Collider
Price: $4.4 billion
Far from science, the media prophesied that he would become the killer of the Earth, and he was able to detect the Higgs boson. The 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider (LHC), built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2008, became one of the most expensive experiments in the history of mankind and caused a lot of hype, but so far has not justified apocalyptic predictions.
Located on the border of France and Switzerland, the LHC staggers with the complexity of its equipment, but the principle of its operation is simple and can be understood by everyone: scientists accelerate hadrons (heavy particles consisting of quarks) in opposite directions of a giant ring-pipe, they accelerate in a magnetic field and collide in a certain place, where supersensitive detectors are located, which register everything that is formed as a result of this collision, and the LHC employees study the data received. If it is extremely simplified, then this is the “break it and see what's inside” method.
Scientists started with a collision of 450 GeV protons in 2009, and in 2012 there was a triumphant discovery, for which, in fact, the LHC was created - as a result of one of the collisions, the Higgs boson responsible for the mass of everything that exists was discovered by detectors, and Peter Higgs himself, who predicted the existence of a particle in the distant 1970s, received the Nobel Prize for this. Thus, the Standard Model of the Universe was replenished with one more strong argument in its favor, and we went deeper into understanding the quantum foundations of our world.
By 2013, the collider had reached a power of 4 TeV and is now undergoing modernization, which by the beginning of 2015 will allow the LHC to reach a power of 6.5 TeV. In the future, it is planned to "accelerate" the collider up to 14 TeV - who knows what even then it will be able to detect in quark fragments?
2. International experimental thermonuclear reactor
Price: $21.6 billion
In 1985, at the initiative of Gorbachev and Reagan, work began on the design of the largest international project in the development of thermonuclear fusion - ITER, or ITER. In addition to the USSR and the USA, the project was also joined by Japan and the European Union (then still the European Community, through the EURATOM organization).
It was decided to build a toroidal-type research reactor (tokamak) in the South of France, 60 km from Marseille. With the collapse of the USSR, Russia assumed its obligations, and the European Union, as the party on whose territory it was decided to place the reactor, agreed to take on about 50% of the cost of ITER. In general, over the almost 30-year history of the project, its cost has tripled: from 5 billion euros to 16.
The United States withdrew from the project in 1993, but returned 10 years later. Also, several more countries became new participants in the project, and now there are 7 of them in ITER: the EU as a whole, the USA, Russia, China, India, Japan and South Korea. Each participating country helps with money, qualified personnel, data from its own research, and some supply the technologies necessary for the construction of the tokamak (Russia is one of them).
By 2020, it is planned to complete the construction of the reactor and begin the first plasma confinement (containment) operations, and the first experiments on thermonuclear fusion of tritium and deuterium in order to convert the resulting energy into electricity to begin by 2027.
1. International Space Station
Price: $150 billion
At the moment, the ISS is the most expensive object created by mankind. Not surprisingly, the implementation of this project required the efforts of a number of countries (however, the key modules of the station remain American and Russian). The ISS is still a positive symbol not only of international cooperation in space, but also of international cooperation in general: the station survived the growth of US military space ambitions in the mid-2000s and the desire of Congress to stop funding the ISS; will probably survive the Ukrainian events.
Since the launch of the first modules in 1998, a huge number of scientific experiments have been carried out on the ISS; a lot of data has been obtained on the features of the influence of space conditions on the flora and fauna of the Earth, especially on humans; these data will provide invaluable assistance in the implementation of further space colonization projects.
Officially, it is supposed to end the mission of the ISS in 2020 and subsequently flood the station in the Pacific Ocean, but there are also proposals to extend its service life to the space needs of mankind. Some even propose to invite China to participate in the project, which, due to disagreements with the United States, has never participated in it before and is currently building its own Tiangong orbital station. Which of the scenarios will be implemented depends largely on the international situation by the end of the 2010s. If Russia and the US on the one hand, and the US and China on the other, fail to resolve their differences, the future of both the ISS and all international space cooperation will be in jeopardy.
Extensive transport systems, roads, giant bridges, the largest buildings - all these are mega-projects, the cost of which exceeds billions, but they are all necessary for the development of your country or city. We present you a list of the most ambitious mega-projects of the 21st century.
10 PHOTOS
Work to expand the Panama Canal should be completed this year, which will increase its capacity. The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific.
The Three Gorges Dam is located in China and is the world's largest power plant. Its height is 181 meters, its width is 40 meters, and its length is more than 2.3 km. This mega project was completed in 2003.
Aizhai Bridge is a suspension bridge in China. The total length of this bridge is 1534 meters. Aizhai is the highest bridge in the world. Its height is 350 meters. It took 5 years to build.
Marmaray is an underwater railway line connecting Europe and Asia. The total cost of the project was $4.5 billion. The project was completed in 2013.
A 104-story building that was built using steel, concrete, sand-lime brick and tons of glass. The cost of the project is $3.8 billion.
The London Crossrail Tunnel is under construction. The total cost of the project is $23 billion. Construction will take 11 years, and construction began in 2007.
Cable-stayed bridge built in Vladivostok. The total length of the bridge is 3100 meters. The bridge opened in 2012. The total cost of the project was $1 billion.
The world's largest industrial city that the Saudi Arabian government is still expanding. The cost of the expansion is $10 billion. Based on a total area of 1,700,000 m², the New Century is the largest building in the world and includes many shopping malls, a water park, cinemas, a university and a hotel.
The Shanghai Tower is today the second tallest skyscraper in the world. It was built in 8 years and opened last year. The total cost of the project is $2.4 billion.
