That's the thing, though: There's no way to calculate the value of fundamental research. We have lots of examples of breakthrough fundamental research with world-altering consequences, and we have many more examples of projects that went more-or-less nowhere.

If we want the big advances, we have to push the boundaries of what's known, but it's unclear where, exactly, the big breaks will happen. But doing these kind of mega-projects is, I think, basically a good thing, as it gets us out of the day-to-day of publishing easy papers, and into attacking the 'big' problems in new ways.