Back in 2013 Star Wars fans launched a petition on the White House website calling on the Obama administration to begin construction on a real-life Death Star, the Imperial superweapon that will be at the center of the plot for the upcoming Star Wars spin-off film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Arguing that the project would create jobs in fields including engineering and construction while strengthening national defense, fans were disappointed when official science and technology adviser Paul Shawcross responded by rejecting the petition. In addition to reaffirming the administrations policy against blowing up planets, Shawcross also explained the estimated $850 quadrillion cost of construction was too high a burden for taxpayers.
However, according to British party site Twizzle that cost may have been a conservative estimation. Twizzle has put together an infographic breaking down the cost of building a death star, estimating the total cost of construction to be $22,452,000,000,000,000,000. Taking into account the cost of materials and the financial requirement of launching the weapon into the space, the breakdown only goes as far as estimating the cost of building the weapons shell. With weapons and equipment to bring on board and a crew to pay, one can imagine the cost would only increase once all factors are taken into consideration.
Fans can look at the detailed breakdown from Twizzle.co.uk below.
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on December 16, 2016.
Source: Twizzle
