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The Daily Insight

How much would it cost to operate the Death Star?

Author

Robert Guerrero

Updated on May 05, 2026

They conclude that operating the planet-destroying starbase would cost 6.2 octillion British pounds, or $7.8 octillion, per day—that's $7,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Similarly one may ask, how much would the Death Star cost?

Even if you can imagine quite a bit, Centives, the economics blog of students of Lehigh University, says it would cost “$852,000,000,000,000,000. Or roughly 13,000 times the world's GDP” to build the Death Star…and that's just the cost of steel production.

Likewise, is it possible to build the Death Star? Although generating enough metal to build a Death Star would be "bonkers," technically speaking, it would be possible, Peck said. But there would need to be a huge space industry infrastructure to support it, including the ability to launch many more rockets than we can today, and asteroid mining.

Accordingly, how much power would the Death Star need?

If a Death Star was possible, the estimated amount of energy would be somewhere close to 1032 joules (J) of energy. And that's just the amount of power needed for the laser. They were able to calculate in great detail the exact number of light bulbs it would require to keep the lights on inside a Death Star.

How long would it take to build the Death Star?

around 30 million years

Related Question Answers

Can a Star Destroyer land?

The Super Star Destroyer proves that, at least in Legends, much larger ships can outright land on a planetary surface. According to Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections, the Acclamator only used landing gear to provide a more stable ground connection, with the repulsors bearing the weight of the ship.

How many people died on the Death Star?

In it, the Death Star is said to have had a crew of 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 42,782 ship support staff, and 180,216 pilots and support crew, making it a total of 1,148,309 people on board.

How much would it cost to build the Millennium Falcon?

While its calculations are undoubtedly far less scientific than the Death Star study, the U.K. website Twizzle has determined it would cost $2,474,132,337 to build and operate the Millennium Falcon. That's $2.47 billion.

How much does a star cost?

When you buy a star, we offer a variety of packages to choose from that meets everyone's budget. Our prices range from $19.95 to over $100. Our star registry provides a unique service; all our packages include your star name and special message of dedication that are launched into space on a real mission.

Did Darth Vader build the Death Star?

Darth Vader did not create the Death Star, the plan of building it was though of before Anakin was turned to the dark side. Completely canon, as you can see Count Dooku with the plans. The Death Star was not there to 'save' anyone, it was a symbol of the Galactic Empire, something to be scared of.

How much would a real lightsaber cost?

Real Lightsaber Cost: $80 Billion The technology for a real lightsaber would have to be developed, but it's certainly within the reach of modern science. An extremely powerful laser would have to be miniaturized to handheld size.

How many credits did the Death Star cost?

2 Answers. Wookieepedia cites Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (a canon reference book published in 2015) in stating that the first and second Death Stars cost over 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) galactic credits each.

What does the Death Star Shoot?

Commanded by Governor Tarkin, it is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon", a huge spherical battle station 120 kilometers in diameter capable of destroying a planet with one shot of its superlaser.

How does the Death Star get power?

Each second in the Sun, 4.3 billion kilograms of mass are converted into pure energy, which is the source of the Sun's energy output. We could simply have the Death Star fire a beam of light into the planet (e.g., laser light), requiring that it generate all that energy on board itself, and then firing it at Alderaan.

Can the Death Star destroy stars?

Boulderstone's conclusion is that the Death Star could indeed destroy Earth-like planets, given its main power source. While the Death Star could destroy an Earth-sized planet, a Jupiter-sized planet would be a tough challenge, and the Galactic Empire would need to resort to using a Suncrusher to destroy stars.

How much energy would it take to destroy the sun?

The gravitational binding energy of the sun will give a loose approximation for the energy needed to destroy it by (essentially) removing all it's constituent matter. Lucky for us, this calculation has already been made; the sun's gravitational binding energy is around 6.9 x 1041 (41 is sup script)Joules.

How does the Death Star superlaser work?

Death Stars It was capable of destroying a planet but could be fired at lower power by expending the charge of only a single one of its vast power reactors to devastate an area encompassing roughly 1/8th of a planet's surface. The superlaser was used for the final time, at full power, to destroy the planet Alderaan.

How powerful is the Death Star superlaser?

Description. The power of the first Death Star's superlaser was estimated to have been more than 2.4×1032 watts, with an optimum range of 2,000,000 kilometers and a working range of 420,000,000 kilometers. Powerful enough to destroy a terrestrial planet, it was the most powerful energy weapon ever built at the time.

What is the mass of the Death Star?

A “realistic” upper limit for the mass is set if the 60 km volume of DS1 was filled with the densest (real, stable) element currently known. This is osmium with a mass density of 2.2E4 kilograms per cubic meter. This places the mass at 2.5E18 kg with a surface gravity of 0.05g.

How big is the death star compared to our moon?

The Death Star has a diameter of 160km. The Death Star II is 200km across. The Moon has a diameter of 3,474 km.

What is bigger than the Death Star?

Yes, Starkiller is way larger than both Death Star. Yes, Starkiller can destroy multiple planets with one shot, and shoot from half the galaxy away.

Who stole Death Star plans?

Death Star uprising A section of the plans were stolen from the Empire during a Rebel jail break inside the nearly completed Death Star. Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion, who had been guarding the plans onboard the Death Star, crushed the uprising and were thought to have recovered the plans.

Can the Death Star jump to hyperspace?

The only clue as to the Death Star's speed of jumping into hyperspace is Vader's statement. And of course the Death Star might be able to jump into hyperspace much faster than that.

Is Tatooine destroyed?

There is another reason as well. Tatooine was controlled by one of the Hutt Families. Had the Empire destroyed Tatooine, they risked starting a war with the Hutts in retaliation for the death of Jabba. The Clone Wars showed that the Hutts controlled vast resources and even in Jedi we see Jabba had a ton of resources.

Who says thats no moon?

- Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope. Obi Wan Kenobi: That's no moon…it's a space station. Han: It's too big to be a space station. Luke: I have a very bad feeling about this.

Does the Death Star have its own gravity?

It has it's own natural gravity of course, but due to the size of it, and the fact it is hollow, the first death star would not have the pull to prevent a ship from escaping it. to pull a ship if said ship were not using any power would be possible, but would certainly take a while.

Is the Death Star a ship?

a space ship is more what it's used for rather than what its capabilities are. Yes, the Death Star has the ability to move through space, and even to make hyperspace jumps, but its primary function is to act as a space station.

What was the Death Star made of?

With the exception of the crust, the station's entire interior space was uninhabited, and housed the hypermatter reactor, hyperdrive, sublight engines, and the station's superweapon. The station's outer hull was made of quadanium steel plates. The Death Star featured an entirely man-made atmosphere.

How much would it cost to build starkiller base?

Since the Starkiller Base will primarily be constructed from the planet itself, the dense natural material (106,338 kg/m3) would act as the hull on a submarine keeping the humans safe. TL;DR: The Starkiller Base costs $9.315 QUINTILLION or 4.83% of the cost of the first Death Star.

What is the hardest Lego set to build?

13 of the Toughest LEGO Sets to Build
  • Eiffel Tower (3428 pieces)
  • Ghostbusters Firehouse (4634 pieces)
  • Ultimate Collector's Edition Millennium Falcon (5195 pieces)
  • Tower Bridge (4287 pieces)
  • Super Star Destroyer (3152 pieces)
  • Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (2996 pieces)
  • Motorized AT-AT (1137 pieces)
  • Sydney Opera House (2989 pieces)

What would it cost to build a Death Star?

According to Gizmodo, the most basic Death Star—the giant floating space station from the original Star Wars—would cost $15.6 septillion to build. To be exact, that's $15,602,022,489,829,821,422,840,226.94.

Was there a third Death Star?

The Death Star III, also known as the third Death Star, was a mock Death Star battle station created from an incomplete worldcraft by the Kaarenth Dissension.

How many Lego Death Stars are there?

Bring the LEGO Star Wars Death Star to life with over 4,000 pieces and an impressive 23 minifigures. The Death Star is the ultimate Imperial weapon.

How long did starkiller base take?

How did the First Order build Starkiller base so quickly? Since The Force Awakens happens just about 30 years after The Return of the Jedi, when there is no hint of the Starkiller even existing, and considering that the original, much smaller Death Star took over twenty years to construct, how is this even possible?

Who built the Death Star?

Who built the the first Death Star? In Attack Of The Clones, Darth Sidious is shown a holographic prototype of the first Death Star by Poggle the Lesser. In Rogue One, Galen Erso is portrayed as the engineer who built the Death Star, and the Empire is already at full power.

Was the Death Star 2 bigger?

The Death Star II was the second Death Star battlestation to be constructed by the Galactic Empire. It was significantly larger than its predecessor, measuring over 160 kilometers in diameter, and was built after the destruction of the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin.

Can Star Destroyers destroy planets?

Super-dreadnought class Star Destroyers are fully capable of assaulting a planet, destroying that planet's infrastucture or defense posture single-handedly or with a light escort. But to actually physically destroy the planet (ala Deathstar) would be beyond its formidable capabilities.