Petition forwarded to the White House, build a Death Star?

[Txur’Itan]

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/secure-resources-and-funding-and-begin-construction-death-star-2016/wlfKzFkN

Petition: Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.

Response: 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.

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.

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.

Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

By today's standards, the engineering problems involved in building a death star would be unimaginable.

We would be making much better use of our resources by trying to build something like the ISV Venture Star. There is nothing about that spacecraft that breaks any laws of physics, and the engineering problems in building it are very large but manageable.

And we could build a particle beam weapon today that might not blow up planets, but could wreak havoc with a lot of smaller things.

[Vawmataw]

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.

Ma oeyä EYWA!

It's IMPOSSIBLE to construct a star. Only nature, so space, can do it.

And the price is very very high.

[archaic]

Did you know, the only country currently capable of sending people to and from the international space station is Kazakhstan?

[Vawmataw]

I just read on Tweeter that White House denied the petition:

More details at http://www.space.com/19246-death-star-white-house-petition-response.html?cid=dlvr.it¸

And why they made a petition for build a moon-size dead star? For die? Guys, Earth's moon exists!

I don't think that this topic will be longer active.

[Tìtstewan]

I think some people watching too often Star Wars...lol
The earth don't have enough resources to build that giant - it need resoures from some planets and asteroids.

[Toruk Makto]

Did you know, the only country currently capable of sending people to and from the international space station is Kazakhstan?

Private company SpaceX launched from Cape Canaveral to the ISS for a supply delivery 3 months ago and has several more deliveries planned for 2013. Hopefully they will be able to provide manned missions at some point.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

SpaceX's manned capability is not all that far off. They have one big advantage over most of the rest of the new non-government space companies-- they can actually put something in orbit.

I'd love to work for someone like SpaceX. I just don't know if I could handle the 'big corporate climate' that exists at many large companies.

[Zusupa Tanhì]

The reply to the petition made me laugh so hard! Who knew the American Government had a sense of humor? I bet - and I admit to it - most of us here thought they were all strict and serious

Jokes aside, I can't see why a Death Star or anything of that sort would be necessary. Did the person want the entire planet blown up?

[Txur’Itan]

The reply to the petition made me laugh so hard! Who knew the American Government had a sense of humor? I bet - and I admit to it - most of us here thought they were all strict and serious

Jokes aside, I can't see why a Death Star or anything of that sort would be necessary. Did the person want the entire planet blown up?

One can only guess at the motivations of the Dark Side of the Force without succumbing to the teaching of the Sith.

[Zusupa Tanhì]

The reply to the petition made me laugh so hard! Who knew the American Government had a sense of humor? I bet - and I admit to it - most of us here thought they were all strict and serious

Jokes aside, I can't see why a Death Star or anything of that sort would be necessary. Did the person want the entire planet blown up?

One can only guess at the motivations of the Dark Side of the Force without succumbing to the teaching of the Sith.

Hmmm...control, maybe? Anyway, the entire thing is such a joke! I bet the person did it for a gag.