Star Wars bent a couple of rules when it brought the Death Star to the big screen. The space station was impressive as a weapon of mass destruction, but some minds around the globe decided to evaluate other aspects, starting with its construction cost and energy demand. That last point is what brings us here today. British company Ovo Energy decided to calculate how much it would cost to operate the Death Star per day, and the final number is much higher than we imagined.
The Death Star by the numbers
According to the Star Wars wiki, the Death Star has a diameter of 120 kilometers and an average crew of two million. In other words, it's a space city capable of traveling through hyperspace and reducing planets to dust. Another curious detail is its listed construction cost: more than a trillion credits, which means the Emperor maintained a powerful currency (if we recall, Han asked Luke for 10,000 credits for his transport to Alderaan). But what about energy?
The power source
The Death Star needs a lot of it, and its main source is the hypermatter reactor at the center. Of course, even this technological terror cannot escape the concept of operational cost. That said, how much should the Empire spend per day to operate one of the most powerful weapons in the galaxy?
That's where this infographic published by the people at Ovo Energy comes in, an energy company based in Bristol. Making a precise calculation of the station's daily operating cost is difficult since not all the technical details are known, so the report is forced to assume certain values based on what is known.
For example, Ovo Energy estimates that with 85 levels and 257 sublevels (data obtained from the wiki), the Death Star needs more than 191 billion light bulbs for lighting. Jumping into hyperspace, firing and recharging its superlaser, feeding two million people and washing their clothes, collecting and recycling trash were also taken into account.
The magic number? 6.254 quadrillion pounds per day. Yes, I guess the economy wasn't a problem for the Empire. At the end of the day, all Palpatine had to do was issue more galactic credits, and anyone who had doubts about the purchasing power of the currency would simply receive a visit from his agents (with Darth Vader at the head in the worst case). Of course, that didn't stop some worlds in the Outer Rim from preferring more solid payments. In short, the Death Star is big, terrifying... and expensive.
https://old.neoteo.com/star-wars-despertar-los-spin-off/
