White House Death Star a no-go

The White House issued a semi-serious response to the recent "We the People" petition demanding the construction of a Death Star for defense purposes.

Unfortunately, it was "not the the petition response you're looking for."

Citing the exorbitant cost ($850 quadrillion, or 850 followed by 15 zeroes), of building a such a weapon, but also that "the Administration does not support blowing up planets," the White House rejected a petition to begin the construction of a Death Star.

The petition, started Nov. 14 on the White House's "We the People" site, suggested that a real-life version of the moon-like superweapon from Star Wars would spur job creation and solve all national defense problems by sheer intimidation.

Paul Shawcross, the White House budget guy in charge of science and space who wrote the petition's response, also pointed out it would be an awful waste of taxpayer dollars to build something with "a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship."

Shawcross then touts the space projects the U.S. is already supporting, including the International Space Station, the construction of a successor to the Hubble Space telescope, and the expansion of of private industry in space.

It's not a Death Star, that's true. But the past few years have been pretty good for us when it comes to space.

That, and President Obama does know his way around a light saber.

(Official White House photo)

The full White House response:

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO "Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016." This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

By Paul Shawcross

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it. The Administration does not support blowing up planets. Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

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Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.

Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.

We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.

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If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.