[CamperBob2]

True, I don't disagree with any of that, but:

Maybe it all goes boom tomorrow on launch or the deployment is ultimately completely FUBAR'd and you can feel satisfied with yourself

A more charitable interpretation of my post would read something like this: "If it does go boom, we can either start building a new one now and try again in 20 years, or we can wait 15 years and build multiple better, cheaper ones in 5 more. Meanwhile, maybe a few hundred other researchers can get funded with the same money."