I'd prefer a happier ending though with a bit more of a sci-fi spin. Narratives where everybody dies in the end were gimmicky to begin with and are just becoming tired and depressing now.
Huh? How is that overused? I've only seen it in "Contact", except, unfortunately, the project was saved by the government having enough foresight to build a 2nd, identical and secret machine in Hokkaido, Japan, though I did think that plot point made a good statement about religious nuttery in America (which really isn't a problem here in Japan).
>It'd be much more surprising and inventive to do a story where they do come together and work hard only to fail due to running up against the laws of physics.
I hate those kinds of stories, and this has been seen in sci-fi before too. The whole story is just pointless because it was a no-win scenario from the start, so there's no lesson at all, other than "what's the point of even trying?".
I like my story idea because it makes a good statement about how dangerous and destructive religion is.
>If you want to send a message it would be more productive to harp on the fact that better astronomical programs may have spotted the danger sooner and allowed for other solutions.
That kind of plot won't make for a good story.
>Narratives where everybody dies in the end were gimmicky to begin with and are just becoming tired and depressing now.
I honestly have no idea what you're talking about here: narrative where everybody dies are not even remotely commonplace in popular fiction. Even Game of Thrones has a happy ending of sorts, though lots of people die along the way. You must be watching or reading some kind of fiction I'm unaware of.
I think a better way to write the latter part of the story is that, finally, after lots of bickering, humanity mostly comes together and starts building a device that will save humanity, but the only have one chance to make it work. However, some religious terrorists infiltrate the project and destroy it. Unfortunately, it was the only one and there's no time to build another, so humanity perishes in the end.