When Did You Work In Private Industry?
Dr. wet behind the ears,
I've worked in industry and the government funded SRP plutonium factory in SC. I know what I'm talking about and doubt very much you have a clue. Pure research should not be based on cost effective judgements, but practical programs with well defined objectives like asteroid detection should be. If you don't think so, I suggest you take some remedial economics courses and read an engineering for dummies book. In my much earlier reply to ET I tried to make it clear that his apparent interpretation of my comments seemingly in line with yours is not what I meant.
Regards,
Mark
PS you need to cure yourself of fresh PhD syndrome soon.