Huge facilities are not always the hallmark of Big Science. Still, a typical Big Science effort requires the expenditure of large amounts of money, and the management of multinational teams of scientists and engineers over many years. The role and significance of Big Science projects and programmes continue to evolve, based on the changing needs of scientists and of policy-makers. Thus, though research budgets are under scrutiny in many OECD countries, governments face the ongoing challenge of maintaining strong megascience programmes. And with reason, for there are urgent questions to deal with.
Static radio Take the case of radio astronomy.
It is a classic instance where science policy interacts with other policy issues, and which by its nature absolutely demands international consultation by governments. Astronomers require access to extremely clear, interference-free portions of the radio spectrum to study the faint signals from cosmic radio sources. This access is threatened by the enormous increase in the commercial use of the radio spectrum. Until recently, radio astronomy observatories could be protected from most man-made interference by being located in remote areas. Of greatest concern are the transmissions from large numbers of global, low-orbit telecom satellites now coming online.