But its main purpose is serious: to reveal the large-scale structure of the universe and thus uncover what happened in the first billion-trillion-trillionth of a second after the Big Bang to cause things to turn out the way they did.
Maintaining a force structure sufficient to engage in large-scale, high-intensity combined arms campaigns and the advanced or specialized assets required to assure access to critical domains is essential to deterrence of conflict, much less war waging.
Described as a "mega-scale free form printer" by its makers, the massive aluminum structure uses sand, which it forms back into a material that's like marble.