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20th Century Fox
Can the open-source community build a fully operational Death Star battle station?
The White House may have turned down the idea of building a real-life Death Star, but now it's the open-source community's turn. A Kickstarter crowd-funding project calls for raising £20 million ($31 million) to design a battle station worthy of Darth Vader. So far, more than £20,000 ($31,000) has been pledged. The funding deadline? April Fool's Day.
The $31 million would go toward fleshing out the project's initial schematic — basically, a round circle — and buying "enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports." As any "Star Wars" fan knows, those ports were the Achilles' heel of the fictional Death Star, giving Luke Skywalker the opportunity to blow the darn thing up long ago in a galaxy far away.
The stretch goal would be to raise the $850 quadrillion (£543 quadrillion) that would be required for actual construction. A recent estimate claimed that's how much it'd cost just to buy the steel for a Death Star, but that figure has recently come under question. In any case, this project would keep the costs low by using open-source hardware and software.
If the pledges don't amount to £20 million by April 1 (heh, heh), the project will fizzle out — and no one will be obliged to pay up. Makes you wonder how much would have been raised if the goal was $20,000 instead.
The creator of the project describes himself as a resident of Leicestershire in Britain, and he's associated with a website registered to Nick Petkovich. Efforts to contact the project manager weren't immediately successful — but based on the Kickstarter description, he's not planning to roll up his sleeves anytime soon.
Project risks? "The only risk is the power of the Force." Challenges? "The main challenge is assuring Kickstarter that this is a joke, and not a serious project. As proof, the goal has been set high enough to make successful funding almost impossible."
Hmm. I can think of at least three replies to that:
- I find your lack of faith disturbing.
- You underestimate the power of the Dark Side.
- Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?
What's your take? Do feel free to add your comments below. But do, or do not. There is no "try."
More about science-fiction construction projects:
- White House turns thumbs down on Death Star
- Empire strikes back with response to Death Star petition
- White House petition to build Starship Enterprise fizzles
Tip o' the Log to TechCrunch.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
How about the Billionaire wanting to build the Starship Enterprise?
Still unreasonable, but a great deal more feasible than a planet-destroying, planetoid-sized space station.
what idiot would say no to this if i had the money i'd build this the galactica blakes seven ship-the endeavor and enterprise the proof of those lies in the disc at the bottom of the fiord -never here about that-my names morgan llewellyn cadle and i vote to build -rent out kennedy it's not owned by nasa
i was thinking how to build a light sabre to day from dark energy for my kids but i think we all ready have this stuff
i also believe due to history the tree of life exists in lantana fl-put that out there a while ago and didn't even get a wacko or tree hugger-due to a reversal of the compass and the fact of a large finish pop and old map lines of n and s
and look at the imprint of florida compared to africa -lantana would be near jerusalum
hey you want to protect it hide it where they won't find it
mayan day = 19hrs
1 day = 3 mayan 54 hrs to a mayan day
need a day to think it over
i week = 378hrs
finland because of jules verne and Sicily that ties in greek and roman gods and religion and interplanetary war called doomsday- the dinosaurs
wake up to the connections
finland ties in the nazi and hitler
Lets assume that the death star was acutely built in my life time. What planet would be destroyed first? Would terrorist take it over and destroy the earth? Could it be that it already has been built and the earth has been destroyed and my life as I think I know it is actually a part of a computer system in a BORG collective? We are the Borg. Your unique attributes will be added to our collective. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
How would terrorists get into space?
I realize that everything about your post is blatantly ridiculous and not to be taken seriously, but that was my first thought in response. Terrorists aren't much for rockets that don't explode on landing.
What does Bjorn Borg have to do with the Death Star? ;-)
I think the biggest hurdle would be getting all the illegals up there to build the damn thing. I guess we"ll have to build a Home Depot first.
Are people seriously this bored, i must be for reading this article....or drunk!!!!
We all sit back and laugh, but one day the planet killer will come our way, just like it has so many times in the past, and without a way off this rock, we're all be dead for sure...... And what happens when the day comes and some other Alien Race finds our planet, a planet rich with life, or in their eye's rich with FOOD!!! You laugh, but one day without proper preparation we'll be sitting ducks and food for some alien race...... We need to stop fighting amongst ourselves and start preparing for the unknown that is awaiting us out there.......
How do you prepare for the unknown?
If you have no real idea of what might happen, "preparations" are just wastes of resources based on random guesses.
Actually, you're correct. We think of domesticated pets as "smart" occasionally. But we're above them on the food/intelligence chain. Some humans think nothing more of them than food and commodities. That's what we'd be, up against a million year old civilization. Food. And I SOOOOO want to see aliens and such.
I for one am for it, just think of it as a protector of the U.S. and its allies. Do you think China or rouge muslims would not use it if they had one to enslave the entire population. If an enemy wanted to attack the U.S. we could eliminate it on their own home territory as it is about to leave earth.
Gay martriage, gun bans,corrupted, gov't run media, gender neutral, a congress that can't do anything except write itself raises, now death stars! Is it any wonder the world is in such great shape?
Except for the congress part, it's a great time to be alive, isn't it? :)
Yup! Looking forward to the next decade too!
Meanwhile in Somalia...
I still think that they would have been better off trying for a Battlestar than a Death Star. It would be much more practical, could be used to explore space and take a trip to Mars, and does not need to be the size "of a small moon", only a Navy Cruiser or maybe an Aircraft Carrier. (If you are not familiar with science fiction tv shows, the Battestar is from Battlestar Galactica while the Death Star is Star Wars.)
Also, if we really did build a Death Star the size of a small moon to orbit Planet Earth, the US would be obligated to destroy it since it would represent a threat to all life on Earth as it interfered with the tidal cycles of the planet upon which many natural processes are based. For example, if the moon suddenly disappeared, there would be no more tides, the weather would change dramatically since the tides do constrain the boundaries of many natural processes, and food webs all over the planet would most likely collapse, especially in the tidal areas and fisheries. So, adding in another moon would interfere in a similar way and disrupt normal planetary cycles.
I have never witnessed something as of this so ignorant in fact this guy gets the ignorant nobel award.What if the evil sorcerer's of earth decide to laser beam earth with death star it's a probability every one of us down to the last human will be exterminated.Kick starter has to have some boundaries here and this would have to be one of them. I will not associate myself ever with kickstarter I have lost all faith in them muck and mire definitley follows the lowly. The beggars and needy ghosts will always look for a grim opportunty, I tell you what will happen once these fools decide to employ themselves on the death star project something will happen and they will get stuck up there and never allowed to return to earth or they will get nuked by russia or china long not so lived death star. Come again boys and girls I hope you enjoyed this experience.
As that great thinker, Foghorn Leghorn used to say: "That's a joke, son, I say that's a joke.".
Okay, so it will take a ludicrous amount of steel to build. Fine.
What I want to know is: how much would the superlaser cost?
Palpatine got the second one operational before it was completed, of course, so obviously we don't have to build a COMPLETE Death Star in order to destroy planets. I mean, why would you ever need a space vessel larger than a mere continent, anyway? We could probably scale the thing down to large-city-sized with some clever engineering. So long as we get our superlaser.
Obama doesn't need a death star. He is doing fine with drones. :-P
It is a better investment than California's bullet train
who came up with that figure-we have shuttle already which is old but a start-lets put newer scupltors os satillite not old ones and use the old equipment-they sell that so lets see how much -why not offer nasa or a private company to invest with all money spent shoen and accounted for
lets think about what we have and what we can use that does not cost a fortune-it's possible
raise the ship from the fjord and we get a head start cut the people who found it in on shares or residuals -everyone has to eat
just did my theory on dark speed verses light speed on the x physics article-also has email address if you have a job available
start refining the 400 mph car that's battery operated THE BUCKEYE"s and use it to experiment with electromagnetism to affect speed even by putting small wings on would make it hover above ground
even create a effect that can repel or disburse molecules infront of you
Having "grown up" during this technology revolution from operating one of the very first electronic Typewriters produced by IBM during a stint in the Marine Corps to watching in awe as the astronauts walked on the Moon, the Apollo missions and so on, I cannot for the life of me figure out WHY this is NOT being done as a matter of course! We have Professional Architects designing and building enormous size buildings, so just adding a couple of Space Experts to a Team should not be much different than building the Panama Canal..We just need people with imaginations, you know those thoughts our Schools and Colleges flunks us for having and reward us with a piece of Kennel paper like a good little doggies for memorizing and regurgitating the Liberal Socialist propaganda which is totally against free thinking unless it is liberal dribble...If you notice ALL THE GREAT men of the last 40 years left school and College and struck out on their own and then the Universities had to bestow "Honorary" awards and Degrees upon them just to "Save Face"..Well we need a lot more of those people to go to work on this project..I'd rather have one of those Rednecks with an imagination than a Harvard, Yale, or MIT flunky working on the team.
It required multiple planets, completely stripped of ALL configurable resources, by autobots running factories on tracks like the track device that wheeled out Saturn V rockets. When the factory reached the core or molten layers, it moved on via rocket launched modules to the next uninhabited planet. Simple, really. Not so simple for the obamanauts. There will NEVER be enough taxes in the recorded history of mankind to fund just ONE of the many quantum based AI computers needed to operate the thing. Leftists have NO intention of letting us "evolve" to this kind of existence/thinking.
Then we have to wear those silly storm trooper uniforms
Actually, we wouldn't need the whole moon sized station to have a superlaser...just make it a big tubular station with the laser running the length of it, and reactors on one end. 1/4 the cost, just as destructive, and no exhaust port to destroy the whole thing :p And for those who know some of the extended Star Wars universe stuff, we could just call it Project Darksaber.
In all seriousness though...this is a great joke. Its totally unfeasible, so why not have some fun with it?
Finally, the person who said we should just build a fleet of Battlestars instead is the real genius. But better yet would be some Star Destroyers...now if only we can figure out that FTL drive so that we can get the fleet from system to system...and it would be powerful enough to survive a well armed race that didn't appreciate us dropping by!