I just learned that it would cost $7.7 octillion per day to run the Death Star, and honestly, that number feels more like something out of a sci-fi novel than actual math.
I mean, forget Rebels blowing it up; the Empire probably went broke trying to pay the electric bill.
I’m starting to think Palpatine’s real dark side was Imperial budgeting.
According to an analysis by Ovo Energy, running this colossal space station would cost the Empire an estimated $7.7 octillion per day. Yes, you read that right—octillion.
To put it into perspective, that’s 30 trillion times the total amount of money in circulation on Earth.
The analysis also breaks down some mind-boggling details: the Death Star is said to have 85 levels and 257 sublevels, with just keeping the lights on requiring a jaw-dropping 191,547,745,149 light bulbs. And that’s just the beginning.
Sheltering and feeding the stormtroopers and staff racks up astronomical expenses, including a laundry bill of $62,632 per wash and $172,185 per dry.
And let’s not even get started on hyperspace jumps. Just one of these galaxy-spanning maneuvers burns through an unfathomable $1.075920955596 x 10^23 in energy costs. That’s the kind of bill that could make even Darth Vader choke on his own rage.
As if the daily operating costs weren’t astronomical enough, the construction of the Death Star was a financial black hole.
Lehigh University students crunched the numbers and estimated that building this moon-sized battle station would require about 1.08 quadrillion tons of steel, costing around $852 quadrillion.
But that’s just scratching the surface. Professor Zachary Feinstein from Washington University took it further, factoring in labor, R&D, and other expenses, arriving at a mind-blowing estimate of $193 quintillion.
To put that into perspective, Earth’s total GDP is around $80 trillion. So, we’re talking about costs that are orders of magnitude beyond our entire planet’s economic output.
No wonder the Empire resorted to ruling through fear; they probably couldn’t afford to pay their contractors.
