Two weekends ago, George Lucas joined the Disney-led greed parade by re-releasing “Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace” reformatted in 3D. However unlike “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” his film will never be confused with being a classic. Most “Star Wars” fans loathe Lucas for ruining his original intergalactic trilogy with prequels filled by bad CGI and Jar Jar Binks. So his decision to re-issue the films that abandoned his fiercely loyal fanbase hasn’t helped regain their trust — neither has his recent negative comments about fanboys.
Nevertheless the film has made over $30 million since its release, overtaking “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” as the eleventh highest grossing film of all time. The recent lazy Hollywood craze of unnecessary 3D re-releases is one of the many examples of the ever-growing list of problems with the film industry. It also proves that even a billionaire can never have enough money.
George Lucas easily has enough cash to satisfy all his earthly needs, but if the calculations of Lehigh University economics students are correct, Lucas is far, far away from having enough money to build his very own Death Star.
We began by looking at how big the Death Star is. The first one is reported to be 140km in diameter and it sure looks like it’s made of steel. But how much steel? We decided to model the Death Star as having a similar density in steel as a modern warship. After all, they’re both essentially floating weapons platforms so that seems reasonable.
Scaling up to the Death Star, this is about 1.08×1015 tonnes of steel. 1 with fifteen zeros.
Which seems like a colossal mass but we’ve calculated that from the iron in the earth, you could make just over 2 billion Death Stars. You see the Earth’s crust may have a limited amount of iron, but the core is mostly our favourite metal and is both very big and very dense, and it’s from here that most of our death-star iron would come.
But, before you go off to start building your apocalyptic weapon, do bear in mind two things. Firstly, the two billion death stars is mostly from the Earth’s core which we would all really rather you didn’t remove. And secondly, at today’s rate of steel production (1.3 billion tonnes annually), it would take 833,315 years to produce enough steel to begin work. So once someone notices what you’re up to, you have to fend them off for 800 millennia before you have a chance to fight back. In context, it takes under an hour to get the steel for HMS Illustrious.
Oh, and the cost of the steel alone? At 2012 prices, about $852,000,000,000,000,000. Or roughly 13,000 times the world’s GDP.
Now, you may be wondering where I’m going with all of this. Why would George Lucas want to build his own Death Star? He seems like a happy enough guy, why would he want the power to destroy entire planets? I am not sure. But after ruining the most beloved science fiction adventure of all time with the banal Episodes 1-3, even the most casual “Star Wars” fan should realize that Lucas has made a habit creating swift, all-consuming disasters. We are just lucky this one is out of his price range.
[Centives via The Short List]
February 20, 2012 at 9:22 pm, Eric Supercynski said:
Lehigh University economics students are calculating the estimated cost of a Death Star. That is all.
February 21, 2012 at 1:20 am, Javier Vasquez said:
And we haven't built this yet because….
February 21, 2012 at 1:34 am, Trevor Kinsey said:
This is better than Newt's moon colony.
February 21, 2012 at 1:35 am, Patrick Brown said:
nerd link of the day. I'm not sure I have the time OR the money for this….
February 21, 2012 at 6:44 am, Jorge Teddy Grahms Villalobos said:
I want one
February 21, 2012 at 1:59 pm, John Foelster said:
I wonder how many planets there are in the Star Wars Galaxy that the Emperor can plop out one of these behemoths. Apparently the Milky Way could have 10 Billion, and that's not counting the ones you just go to for the mining…
February 21, 2012 at 3:23 pm, Brian Cahill said:
The irony is if we stop spending on war, we could build it…for war.
February 21, 2012 at 4:52 pm, Jeffrey Scott Simmons said:
The Lehigh University economics students are decidedly NOT rocket scientists, and this is why their estimate is so embarrassingly over-inflated. First, there is no indication that the Death Star is all or even mostly steel. Secondly, it’s hard to imagine a less efficient way of building a Death Star than hauling raw materials from a large planet up into space. Instead, you find one large (or a few smaller) iron/nickel asteroid already in space and simply begin excavating it according to one’s blueprints. Components that HAD to be made of steel for structural reasons could be built from material milled and forged on-site. Remember, except for artificial gravity in habitable compartments, the station’s overall gravitational field will be TINY, so its structural integrity will only have to answer ship-handling and warfighting demands. It would best be designed, then, with lower priority, more “expendable” (and hence lighter) systems out towards its spherical surface, at a very low density. More sensitive, premium systems would be located closer to the core in a denser, better defended citadel. The overall density, then, could also be much lower than the average terrestrial seagoing warship. Besides, I know a contractor in Queens who would do the job for, like, HALF of what they’re quoting. Paint included.
February 21, 2012 at 5:21 pm, Mike Burke said:
Jeff, this is a rational, credible, even persuasive argument. Kudos. My two burning Star Wars plausibility questions are related to atmosphere and gravity. Neither is ever explained or even acknowledged as ann issuer. Please help explain, on behalf of Star Wars, and thank you.
February 21, 2012 at 7:05 pm, Joana Simmons said:
Yes, I married a geek.
February 21, 2012 at 7:46 pm, Philip Gorkin said:
this is assuming of course that in a galxay far far away a long time ago that they used Steel at all and so this number is just not realistic at all.
February 22, 2012 at 11:51 pm, John Beaulieu said:
The Emperor would have just stolen what he heeded like Hitler did when he needed oil and invaded Romania or Saddam invading Kuwait because he owed money to Kuwait who financed Iraq's war with Iran and wanted to be paid back. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE EMPEROR LOL. "Build my Death Star quickly or I will make sure your planet is the first one blown up, now hop to it Skippy".
February 24, 2012 at 5:57 am, Dieter Der Blaue said:
Joana Simmons You RULE for that.
February 24, 2012 at 9:15 pm, Oliver Keyes said:
Philip Gorkin they'd probably use durasteel
March 03, 2012 at 4:46 am, Joana Simmons said:
If you say so, Dieter. If you say so.
February 22, 2012 at 1:24 am, Hank Pabst said:
Using transparent aluminum would reduce the cost by half a gazillion
February 22, 2012 at 1:25 am, Hank Pabst said:
Using transparent aluminum would reduce cost by half a gazillion
February 22, 2012 at 7:05 am, Yang Phebe said:
they should post with it the on what basis they get th ecost and detailed information would be more convicing. swtor credits at http://www.swtorcreditus.com 100k swtor credits=$2.19.sincerely wish that it will not dissapoint the players as star wars the old republic.
February 22, 2012 at 7:44 pm, Alan Koeppen said:
Are you sure Newt Gingrich isn't proposing this right now? That'll come around only a few years after his moon base is established. Where's the signup sheet for colonization?
February 22, 2012 at 11:45 pm, John Beaulieu said:
I'm very very annoyed by fanboys griping about GL even in this article there is a dig. if you think GL raped your childhood the first thing you should do is see a shrink because your childhood really sucked if a movie made it for you. It's just a movie…. get over it. I saw it in the theater 30 to 40 times when I was 10…. so what? They are his property and if he wants to make a 2 hour and 20 minute CGI alteration of Jar Jar taking a dump then so be it. DON'T WATCH IT.
February 24, 2012 at 6:03 am, Dieter Der Blaue said:
800,000 years? Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them. The Death Star WILL be completed on schedule.
February 24, 2012 at 7:04 am, Michael Kane said:
It would still be worth it.
February 24, 2012 at 8:06 am, Kirk Dorton said:
you just need more clones to work ,thats all
February 24, 2012 at 11:09 pm, David Lewis said:
With a manual transmission it is $14 quadrillion less. Gotta save money where you can.
February 24, 2012 at 11:11 pm, Dieter Der Blaue said:
David Lewis – we can drive stick.
February 25, 2012 at 7:47 am, William Sanders said:
Why build a death star when a couple of "Constellation" Class vessels like the USS Enterprise could do the job at a fraction of the cost, time, and manpower?
February 25, 2012 at 8:01 am, William Sanders said:
Why build a death star when a couple of "Constellation" Class vessels like the USS Enterprise could do the job at a fraction of the cost, time, and manpower?
February 27, 2012 at 4:55 am, Karen Madd said:
lucas has been a has been for decades.
April 28, 2012 at 10:15 am, Kona's Korner | Call of Duty: It Is A Love, Hate Relationship said:
[...] DeathandTaxesMag.com | GameSpy.com | [...]
December 27, 2012 at 5:57 pm, Quartz Daily Brief—Japanese indicators, Indian IPO, killer whale finances, dolphin generosity – Quartz said:
[...] a formal response. It could just point to a calculation showing that the steel alone would cost 13,000 times the world’s annual GDP. (Meanwhile, the petition to have British CNN anchor Piers Morgan deported for his anti-gun views [...]
December 28, 2012 at 12:14 am, Quartz Daily Brief—Tata goes, port talks, killer whale finances, dolphin generosity – Quartz said:
[...] a formal response. It could just point to a calculation showing that the steel alone would cost 13,000 times the world’s annual GDP. (Meanwhile, the petition to have British CNN anchor Piers Morgan deported for his anti-gun views [...]