How much does Star Wars: Star Destroyer cost?

How much would you pay for an Imperial-I class star destroyer from the Star Wars universe? We have the answer.

Since the release of Episode IV in 1977, there have been a large number of starships in the universe star wars. Each of its spacecraft has its own technical specifications. One of its most famous ships is the Imperial-I-class star destroyer. At a time when space conquest is in full swing and space tourism is on the rise, we asked ourselves the following question: How much would it cost to build an Imperial-1 class star destroyer?

Fortunately, we’re not the only ones asking this question. In 2016, Keenan Eng, a researcher in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, tried to answer this on the Quora site using an analogy with current technology. In this article, we present the results of his estimation.

What are the features of Star Destroyer?

in the story star wars, there are several models of star destroyers, but the most famous is the Imperial I-class star destroyer. Its dimensions are impressive: it is 1,600 meters long, 900 meters wide and 220 meters high. It has 60 turbolaser turrets, 60 ion cannons, 6 tractor beam projectors and 10 concussion missile batteries. It can carry 72 TIE fighters, 8 shuttle transports, 20 armored assault transports (AT-AT), 30 all-terrain personnel carriers (AT-ST) and about 37,000 troops. It is powered by 88 nuclear reactors giving it a total electrical power of 146.5 GW.

How to calculate part cost on earth?

To estimate the cost of Star Destroyer parts on Earth, Keenan Eng The reference was based on two points: one of the world’s largest ocean liners, the attraction of the sea, and the American nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.

The Allure of the Seas is 360 meters long, 60.5 meters wide and 81.3 meters high. It weighs 100 million kilograms and has a volume of about 1.188 million cubic meters. It cost about $1 billion to build.

Gerald R. Ford is 337 meters long, 78 meters wide and 76 meters high. It also weighs 100 million kilograms and has a volume of about 1 million cubic meters. It has two nuclear reactors that provide it with a total electrical power of 3.3 GW. It cost around $10.44 billion to build.

From his data, Keenan Eng Assuming that an Imperial Star Destroyer has a volume of approx 52.8 million cubic meters, or about 44.4 times that of an ocean liner or aircraft carrier. So we can approximate its weight 4.44 billion kilograms And it costs approx $464 billion.

But it does not end here. We must add the cost of weapons, engines and vehicles on board.

For the weapon, Keenan used the ATHENA laser made by Lockheed Martin as a reference. This laser is rated at 60 kW and can disable a car remotely. A demonstrator cost about $25 million. Eng estimates that the final 500 kW version could disable planes or trucks. It also assumes that a turret requires four lasers at cost $100 million per turret. So the stellar destroyer has an arsenal that amounts to approx $12 billion.

For the engine, Keenan Eng used the NEXT ion thruster developed by NASA as a reference. This thruster has a nominal power of 7 kW and a thrust of 0.25 Newton. It is designed to power satellites or space probes.

Eng estimates that we can use two-thirds of the Star Destroyer’s electrical power to power the ion thrusters, or 98 GW. This will allow us to operate 14 million NEXT thrusters with a combined total of 3.5 million newtons of thrust. This will accelerate the Star Destroyer to 0.8 millimeters per square second, which is very low but enough to get going. It would take about four days for the Star Destroyer to reach its rated speed of 270 meters per second. Keenan Eng Assuming that each Next thruster costs $10,000, that is the total cost $140 billion for engines.

For on-board vehicles, Keenan Eng The F-22 Raptor fighter developed by Lockheed Martin is used as a reference. This fighter has a top speed of 2,414 kilometers per hour and can carry air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. It costs around $150 million per unit.

Keenan Eng Assuming that each TIE fighter costs the same, that results in a total cost $10.8 billion for 72 TIE fighters on Star Destroyers. There are the same number of shuttles, heavy personnel carriers, AT-AT walkers, etc. He rounded up the total cost 20 billion for all on-board vehicles.

How to calculate the cost of moving to space?

To estimate the cost of moving Star Destroyer parts into space, our neuroscience and artificial intelligence researchers used the Falcon Heavy rocket made by SpaceX.

In calculating this, he took into account that the rocket was the largest and cheapest capable of launching payloads to Mars, a respectable minimum target for any star destroyer. Launching 13,200 kilograms to Mars cost about $135 million. Keenan Eng Suppose we get a small discount and pay $10,000 per kilogram. so, Putting the Star Destroyer parts into space – to assemble it – would cost about $44.4 trillion and require about 330,000 launches.. This represents one launch every minute for about eight months.

But it does not end here. It is also necessary to fill the container with pressurized air. The air volume of the Star Destroyer is estimated to be approx 52.8 million cubic meterswhich represents a weight of approx 65 million kilograms. So it will be necessary About 4,925 additional Falcon Heavy launches fill the ship with air.

Finally, if we can overcome all of the challenges of building a Star Destroyer, there is another problem to solve… that of dissipating the heat generated by the ship’s nuclear reactor. The Star Destroyer does not have an effective cooling system. Eng has floated the idea of ​​using giant fins to radiate heat into space, but that would require a complex calculation.

Conclusion

The total cost of building a Star Destroyer would be about $45 trillion, or about 600 times the annual gross domestic product of France. This would require resources and technology beyond the reach of current humanity.

A short summary in a table: