Space
Do You Want to Build a Death Star? NASA Engineers Say Use an Asteroid (VIDEO)
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Dec 11, 2015 09:10 AM EST
Want to build a Death Star? Then you're going to need an asteroid. A NASA engineer has pointed out that the best way to create a massive object in space isn't from thin air-it's using something that's already there.
"If one wanted to build a Death Star, you didn't do it by launching a bunch of stuff off a planet," said Brian Muirhead, chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an interview with WIRED. "You went and got an asteroid and build it from that. It could provide the metals. You have organic compounds, you have water, all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star."
In the Star Wars movies, the Death Star is destroyed by the rebels, and is seen being constructed in space itself. But using a solid object as a basis would make more sense than constructing something so massive out of, effectively nothing. And while it's unlikely that we'll build a Death Star in the future, a space station or other orbiting, habitable object could be possible with the use of an asteroid.
NASA is already looking into asteroids, as well. As part of their Asteroid Redirect Mission, they're landing a spacecraft on an asteroid to collect samples for further study. The spacecraft is also due to place the asteroid in orbit around the moon so that a crew mission can further study it.
Want to learn more about building a Death Star? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.
Related Articles
New, Spectacular NASA Visualization Predicts Space Weather Around Pluto (VIDEO)
Dawn Spacecraft Discovers What Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres are Made Of (VIDEO)
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Dec 11, 2015 09:10 AM EST
Want to build a Death Star? Then you're going to need an asteroid. A NASA engineer has pointed out that the best way to create a massive object in space isn't from thin air-it's using something that's already there.
"If one wanted to build a Death Star, you didn't do it by launching a bunch of stuff off a planet," said Brian Muirhead, chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in an interview with WIRED. "You went and got an asteroid and build it from that. It could provide the metals. You have organic compounds, you have water, all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star."
In the Star Wars movies, the Death Star is destroyed by the rebels, and is seen being constructed in space itself. But using a solid object as a basis would make more sense than constructing something so massive out of, effectively nothing. And while it's unlikely that we'll build a Death Star in the future, a space station or other orbiting, habitable object could be possible with the use of an asteroid.
NASA is already looking into asteroids, as well. As part of their Asteroid Redirect Mission, they're landing a spacecraft on an asteroid to collect samples for further study. The spacecraft is also due to place the asteroid in orbit around the moon so that a crew mission can further study it.
Want to learn more about building a Death Star? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.
Related Articles
New, Spectacular NASA Visualization Predicts Space Weather Around Pluto (VIDEO)
Dawn Spacecraft Discovers What Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres are Made Of (VIDEO)
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone