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The best way to construct the future Death Star is to make use of an existing asteroid.
One Death Star coming right up. You read that correctly. In anticipation of the new Star Wars episode, Brian Muirhead, the chief engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained how building a successful Death Star should actually go around.
The Empire’s strategy to bring the gigantic battle station to life wasn’t the right one the chief engineer says. The Dark Side should pay really close attention now. The best way to construct the future Death Star is to make use of an existing asteroid. While the Empire has built the original ultimate battleship out of thin air, the resources packed in an asteroid would bring about so much more.
Touted an engineering marvel, the Death Star was ripe with detail and complex structures. Being an engineering marvel, it still revealed its Achilles heel when the rebel forces went against the killing machine/ operational base twice.
One Death Star coming right up is not a food item off a menu. Chief engineer Brian Muirhead explains how it could be done making use of the resources of an existing asteroid. An asteroid is a wonderfully resource-rich source that could sustain the building of an engineering marvel.
An existing asteroid is rich in metals. According to Brian Muirhead, it also offers water, organic compounds and the metals needed to use as the building blocks of a future Death Star. The Empire would do well to take a look at NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission as well for further blueprints on building the future Death Star.
NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission is the first expedition that foresees a near-Earth asteroid being pulled in the Moon’s orbit. NASA plans the expedition in about ten years. NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission also entails a manned mission which will collect asteroid samples to be brought to Earth for research.
This isn’t the first time a Death Star-related real life simulation surfaces. Earlier this month, Zachary Feinstein, financial engineering professor theorized what the full-scale demise of the gigantic battle station would spell for the Empire:
“economic depression of astronomical proportions”.
As the first Death Star was destroyed by the rebel forces, the Empire would have asked banks for funds to build the second one. With the second Death Star ravaged by the rebel forces as well, the banking industry would have fallen short of about 500 quintillion dollars. Difficult to fathom a 20-zero sum? Professor Feinstein’s paper makes it a fun exercise.
Photo Credits: Flickr
