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wurzel (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-10-08 02:24 PMOriginal messageEurope is operating their super collider. USA is arguing about lipstick. Advertisements [?]You really think we have a future?
Cancellationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_ColliderDuring the design and the first construction stage, a heated debate ensued about the high cost of the project. In 1987, Congress was told the project could be completed for $4.4 billion, but by 1993 the cost projection exceeded $12 billion. An especially recurrent argument was the contrast with NASA's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), which was of similar amount.[citation needed] Critics of the project argued that the US could not afford both of them.The project was canceled by Congress in 1993. Many factors contributed to the shutdown of the project, although different parties disagree on which contributed the most. They include rising cost estimates, poor management by physicists and Department of Energy officials, the end of the need to prove the supremacy of American science with the collapse of the Soviet Union, belief that many smaller scientific experiments of equal merit could be funded for the same cost, Congress's desire to generally reduce spending, and the reluctance of Texas Governor Ann Richards [1] and President Bill Clinton, both Democrats, to support a project begun during the administrations of Richards's Republican predecessor, Bill Clements, and Clinton's Republican predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. However, in 1993, Clinton attempted to prevent the cancellation by requesting that Congress continue "to support this important and challenging effort" through completion because "abandoning the SSC at this point would signal that the United States is compromising its position of leadership in basic science..." [2]The closing of the SSC held drastic ramifications for the southern part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and resulted in a mild recession made most evident in those parts of Dallas which lay south of the Trinity River.[3] At the time the project was cancelled, 22.5 km (14 miles) of tunnel and 17 shafts to the surface were already dug and nearly two billion dollars had already been spent on the massive facility.[4]
Just what did they do with that big ol' hole in the ground by the way?KC
Current status of siteAfter the project was canceled, the main site was deeded to Ellis County, Texas and the county tried numerous times to sell the property. The property was finally sold in August of 2006 to[5] an investment group led by the late J.B. Hunt. Collider Data Center has contracted with GVA Cawley to market the site as a Tier III or Tier IV Data Center[6]. The site is currently unoccupied. However the site is occasionally used by the military to conduct training exercises. The site is generally well-maintained, with few (if any) broken windows, though some doors and locks have been forced open. Most of the signage (the most obvious artifact from the SSC era) has been removed since the closure of the project.[edit]Movie productionWhile owned by Ellis County, Texas, the site was used for several different purposes, including storage for the county and the production of Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1999 movie Universal Soldier: The Return.
Quote from: Texacon on September 10, 2008, 01:46:48 PMJust what did they do with that big ol' hole in the ground by the way?KCQuoteCurrent status of siteAfter the project was canceled, the main site was deeded to Ellis County, Texas and the county tried numerous times to sell the property. The property was finally sold in August of 2006 to[5] an investment group led by the late J.B. Hunt. Collider Data Center has contracted with GVA Cawley to market the site as a Tier III or Tier IV Data Center[6]. The site is currently unoccupied. However the site is occasionally used by the military to conduct training exercises. The site is generally well-maintained, with few (if any) broken windows, though some doors and locks have been forced open. Most of the signage (the most obvious artifact from the SSC era) has been removed since the closure of the project.[edit]Movie productionWhile owned by Ellis County, Texas, the site was used for several different purposes, including storage for the county and the production of Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1999 movie Universal Soldier: The Return.
