Question

Why is the Human Genome Project called a megaproject?

Answer 1

The human genome project was started in order to sequence the complete human genome. Genome is the sum total of all the genetic material present in a cell of an organism.

Complete answer:
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international research project. Its goal was to determine the base pairs that make up human DNA and to identify and map all the genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint. It is still the world's largest collaborative biological project. Its planning started after the idea was picked up in 1984 by the US government. The project was formally launched in 1990 and was declared complete on April 14, 2003.
It is known as a megaproject because the scientific community of the whole world came together in order to work for a common goal. The process took a total of 13 years. The human DNA was sequenced and the data were stored in a database. The sequences proved useful in the following years because the basis of many human diseases was found to be genetic and studying them gave us the knowledge of prevention of those diseases.

Note: The human genome contains approximately 3 billion base pairs which are contained in the 23 pairs of chromosomes. The Human Genome Project was funded by many countries. The main funding came from the National Institute of Health (NIH), USA.
Human Genome Project was indeed a mega project as it covered a lot of data.