Is it possible to build a Death Star? Science fiction and reality of space stations. Lego "Star Wars". "Death Star" and its interesting assembly Lego Star Wars Death Star diagram
We allowed our family to become a close-knit and very attentive team for a long number of evenings. From the outside, it probably seemed that we were collecting at least atomic bomb... In fact, we just bought a cool designer, which was supposed to eventually appear before our eyes in the form of the very "Death Star". Here is our experience.
I don't think it's worth reminding once again that mom, dad and our child are outstanding representatives of the fans of the franchise. " star Wars". And so, when we had a unique opportunity to combine business with pleasure, we immediately took advantage of it. Lego Star Wars Death Star has in its set mini-men, figures, individual accessories. Every detail has its place. For example, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are mini-heroes that are difficult to confuse with anyone else. All figures are 24 pieces, but the total number of parts is 3803 pieces. Can you imagine it? At the very start of the assembly, it was difficult to determine who is more delighted: the child or the parents. But then everything did not go so cloudlessly.
Despite the fact that Lego "Star Wars", "Death Star" is intended for ages 12+, it would be worthwhile to put a limit on those with weak nerves. The box with the designer weighed 8 kg. The instruction is a full-fledged album in A3 format, which is at the time of study for MBA graduates.
First recommendation: after you open the inner boxes and start opening numerous bags, do not confuse the contents. We recommend stocking up on ordinary kitchen trays, in which carefully place the insides of the mini-sets one by one. You can only throw individual parts of the little men into one common vessel.
The process has begun: Lego "Star Wars", "Death Star" and death by the weekend
Experienced collectors on the net say that the Death Star can be assembled in a couple of hours. It took the three of us Friday night and the whole weekend. So the next tip: get someone to cook for you.
Easiest in a set Lego Star Wars, Death Star it is the main characters who are going, since attaching the head to the body and finding the arms and legs is the easiest thing in this painstaking work. We advise you to start from this. Further, it is worth continuing to work with the base. The soil of the circle on which the star will "grow" should be built in stages, do not try to jump over any process, otherwise you will get confused and completely lose the thread of Ariadne. Do everything according to the numbering in the instructions, as well as the recommendations described.
When you reach the level of the second tier, switch back to collecting mini-figures. This is a personal wish, because the same type of work in the format of creating a large building can quickly get bored and you will completely abandon the whole thing. And this is not good, because the set is really very cool.
Lego "Star Wars", "Death Star" - has no unnecessary details. This is not a joke, I assure you. My wife tried to argue with me, but still, by trial and error, we added extra details. Therefore, if there is at least one brick left, write it down. Do not forget that this designer model was developed by a whole team of highly specialized engineers who created a projection in proportions and scales as similar as possible to the real ones. For this reason, do not try to screw the bolts where they do not fit, and create interfloor floors according to your own observations. This trick does not work here.
Process Tired: Lego Star Wars, Death Star and Its Radiance
The most interesting thing begins at the stage when almost all sectors of the figure are created, and the assembly of weapons begins. This is about 75 pages of instructions. Do not sculpt the machine gun directly onto the Star, assemble it separately, inspect it, or have not forgotten anything, since it is here that there are a huge number of small parts, and only then put it in its place. Very carefully and patiently approach the question of hanging cables (ropes), because they require a decent perseverance.
After all this work done, building the roof of the first floor in Lego "Star Wars", "Death Star" will seem to you something painfully ridiculous. But when the roof is in place, you can already seriously approach the finale. Assemble a piece of the roof above each sector separately, and only when the triangle is ready, attach it to the general figure. It's easier and faster this way, especially when you work in a group of collectors.
Next, we begin to throw everything according to the type of filling the first floor, only over the finished floor. At this stage, work should go quickly, because there is already experience and impatience is added to see the final result. The most bulky parts of the second floor, such as stairs or weapons - also create to the side and only fasten at the finish line.
The final floor of Lego "Star Wars", "Death Stars" will become your dessert and sheer pleasure. And the yellow rays of the plate are just a gift for the anniversary. But in order not to spoil too much, we still recommend that you personally go through all the stages and difficulties of this beautiful, rare set. We remind you that some special fans even stretch the pleasure for months, turning work with the designer into a whole art with detailed photo reports on the network. How do you plan to build your Death Star?
Journalists of the Hi-News resource asked the question: is it possible with current human technologies to translate into reality at least some of space stationswidely represented in films and books? seemed interesting to us, we suggest you familiarize yourself with it.
Giant space stations the size of the moon. Huge ring-shaped stations orbiting alien worlds. Massive cities drifting in the atmosphere of alien planets. We will consider all these concepts today and find out how realizable they are. Cindy Doo, a researcher and doctoral student at MIT, a person who frankly believes that the Mars One project is initially doomed to failure, and a scientist who wrote a serious scientific work, where questions are raised related to our possible future life in space.
According to Du, if we are talking about any possibility of human life in space, it is necessary to take into account the habitat, what we want from it and how big it will be. It is these three criteria that can indicate the possibility or impossibility of the whole venture. Therefore, we will consider several options for space dwellings that science fiction offers us, and find out how realistic and rational their use is.
A mobile space station like the Death Star
Almost every sci-fi movie lover knows what a Death Star is. This is such a large gray and round space station from the epic "Star Wars", outwardly very reminiscent of the moon. It is an intergalactic planetary destroyer, which in fact is itself an artificial planet, consisting of steel and inhabited by stormtroopers.
Can we in reality build such an artificial planet and surf the galaxy on it? In theory, yes. This alone will require an incredible amount of human and financial resources.
"A station the size of a Death Star will require a colossal supply of materials to build." says Du.
The question of the construction of the "Death Star" was raised even by the White House, after the society sent a corresponding petition for consideration. The official response from the authorities was that steel alone would cost 852 quadrillion dollars for construction.
Let's assume that the issue of money is not an issue and that the Death Star is actually built. What's next? And then good old physics will be involved. And that really turns out to be a problem.
"To be able to move the Death Star through space will require an unprecedented amount of energy." continues Du.
“The station's mass will be equivalent to the mass of Deimos, one of the satellites of Mars. Humanity simply does not have the capabilities and necessary technologies to build an engine capable of moving such giants. "
Orbital station "Deep space 9"
So, we found out that the "Death Star" is too big (at least in today's opinion) for travel in space. Perhaps a smaller space station, such as Deep Space 9, which hosts the events of Star Trek (1993-1999), can help us. In this series, the station is orbited by the fictional planet Bajor and is a great habitat and a true galactic shopping center.
“Again, it will take a lot of resources to build such a station,” - says Du.
"The main question is: whether to deliver the necessary material to the planet in which the future station will be located, or to extract the necessary resources right on the spot, say, on some asteroid or satellite of one of the local planets?"
Du says it now costs about $ 20,000 for each kilogram of payload into space into low Earth orbit. Taking this into account, it would most likely be more expedient to send some robotic spacecraft for mining on one of the local asteroids than to deliver the required material from Earth to the site.
Another issue that will require a binding solution will, of course, be the issue of life support. In the same "Star Trek" station "Deep Space 9" was not completely autonomous. It was a galactic trade center, for which new supplies were delivered by various merchants, as well as in the course of supplies from the planet Bajor. Building such habitat space stations would require occasional food delivery missions, Du said.
"A station of this size is likely to function thanks to the creation and combination of the use of biological media (for example, growing algae for food) and life support systems based on chemical and technological processes, such as on the ISS", - explains Du.
“These systems will not be completely autonomous. They will require periodic maintenance, replenishment of water, oxygen, supply of new parts and so on. "
Mars station, as in the movie "Mission to Mars"
There is a lot of real fantastic nonsense in this film. Tornado on Mars? Mystical alien obelisks? But most of all, the fact described in the film is embarrassing that it is very easy to equip a home on Mars and provide yourself with water and oxygen supplies. Left alone on Mars, actor Don Cheadle's hero explains that he was able to survive on the Red Planet by creating a small vegetable garden.
“In theory, it is really possible to create a Martian greenhouse. However, growing plants has a number of features. And if we compare the labor costs of growing plants on Mars and the cost of delivering ready-made products from Earth to the Red Planet, then it will be easier and cheaper to deliver ready-made and packaged products, supplementing stocks with only a part of grown crops with a very high degree of yield. Moreover, you will need to choose plants with a minimum maturation cycle. For example, various salad cultures ", - explained Cindy Doo.
Despite Cheadla's belief that there are close bonds between plants and humans, the harsh climatic conditions On Mars, plants and humans will be in an unnatural environment for them. One should also not forget about such an aspect as differences in the intensity of photosynthesis of agricultural crops. Growing plants will require sophisticated closed systems to control the environment... And this is a very serious task, since in this case people and plants will have to share a single atmosphere. The solution to this problem in practice will require the use of isolated greenhouse chambers for growth, but this in turn will increase the overall cost of ownership.
Growing plants may be a good idea, but it's best to stock up on extra provisions to take with you before your one-way flight.
Cloud City. City floating in the atmosphere of the planet
Lando Calrissian's famous "City in the Clouds" from Star Wars seems like a pretty interesting science fiction idea. However, can planets with a very dense atmosphere, but a harsh surface, be a suitable platform for the survival and even prosperity of humanity? Experts from NASA believe that this is indeed possible. And the most suitable candidate for the role of such a planet in Solar system is Venus.
The Langley Research Center explored this idea and is still working on concepts for spacecraft that could send humans to the upper atmosphere of Venus. Building a giant station the size of a city will be a daunting task, almost impossible, but finding an answer to the question of how to keep the spaceship in the upper atmosphere can be even more difficult.
"Entering the atmosphere is one of the most difficult tests during space flight", - says Du.
“You can't even imagine what '7 minutes of horror' Curiosity had to endure at the time of landing on Mars. And keeping the gigantic residential station in the upper atmosphere will be much more difficult. When you enter the atmosphere at a speed of several thousand kilometers per second, you will need to activate the braking and stabilization systems of the vehicle in the atmosphere in a matter of minutes. Otherwise, you will just crash. "
One of the benefits of the flying city of Calrissian is constant access to clean and fresh air, which can be completely forgotten if we are talking about real conditions and, in particular, the conditions of Venus. In addition, special spacesuits will have to be developed, putting on which people will be able to go down and replenish supplies on the hellish surface of this planet. Do has several ideas on this:
“For living in the atmosphere, depending on the location you choose, you can, for example, clean it up around the station (on Venus, you can convert CO 2 into O 2, for example), or you can send robotic miners to the surface using a cable, for example , for the extraction of minerals and their subsequent delivery back to the station. Again, under Venus conditions, this will be an extremely difficult task. "
Giant spaceship "Axioma" from "WALL-I"
The touching sci-fi cartoon "WALL-E" offers a relatively realistic version of the exodus of mankind from Earth. While robots are trying to clear the surface of the Earth from the debris accumulated on it, people fly out of the system into deep space in a giant spaceship. Sounds pretty realistic, right? We have already learned how to make spaceships, so let's just make them bigger!
In fact, this idea is, according to Du, almost the most unrealistic of the list proposed in this article.
“The cartoon shows that the Axiom spacecraft is in very deep space. Therefore, most likely, he most likely does not have access to any external resources that may be required to maintain life on the ship. For example, since the ship will be far from our Sun or any other source of solar energy, it will most likely operate on the basis of a nuclear reactor. The ship's population is several thousand people. They all need to eat, drink, breathe air. All these resources need to be taken from somewhere, and also not to forget about the processing of waste, which will necessarily accumulate with the use of these resources. "
“Even if you use some kind of ultra-high-tech biological life support system, being in a space environment that is unable to replenish the spacecraft with the required amounts of energy will mean that all these life support systems will not be able to support biological processes on board. In short, the giant spaceship option looks the most fantastic. "
The world is a ring. "Elysium"
The ring worlds as they are represented, for example, in the fantasy action movie Elysium or the video game Halo, are perhaps among the most interesting ideas for space stations of the future. In Elysium, the station is close to Earth and, if you ignore its size, has a certain degree of realism. However, the most a big problem here lies in its "openness", which is pure fantasy in appearance.
“Perhaps the most controversial issue about the Elysium station is its openness to the space environment.” explains Du.
“The film shows a spaceship simply landing on the lawn after it flies in from outer space. There are no docking gates and the like here. But such a station should be completely isolated from external environment... Otherwise, the atmosphere here won't last long. Perhaps the open areas of the station can be protected by some kind of invisible field that will allow sunlight to penetrate and maintain life in the plants and trees planted here. But so far this is just fantasy. There are no such technologies. "
The very idea of \u200b\u200ba ring-shaped station is wonderful, but not yet feasible.
Underground cities, as in the "Matrix"
The events of the "Matrix" trilogy actually take place on Earth. However, the surface of the planet is inhabited by killer robots, and therefore our home looks like an alien and very inhospitable world. To survive, people had to go underground, closer to the core of the planet, where it is still warm and safer. The main problem in such a real set of circumstances, in addition, of course, the difficulty in transporting equipment that will be required to create an underground colony, will be to maintain contact with the rest of humanity. Du explains this complexity with the example of Mars:
“Underground colonies can face communication problems with each other. Communication between the underground colonies on Mars and Earth will require the creation of separate powerful communication lines and orbiting satellites that will act as a bridge for the transmission of messages between the two planets. If a permanent communication line is required, then in this case it will be necessary to use at least one additional satellite, which will be located in the orbit of the Sun. It will receive a signal and send it to Earth when our planet and Mars are on opposite sides of the star.
Terraformed asteroid, as in the novel "2312"
In the novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, humans terraformed an asteroid and built a kind of terrarium on it, in which artificial gravity is created by centripetal force.
NASA expert Al Globus says that the most important thing will be to solve the issue of the tightness of the asteroid, given that most of them are essentially large pieces of various space "debris". In addition, the expert says that asteroids are very difficult to rotate, and changing the center of its gravity will require some effort when adjusting its course.
“However, building a space station on an asteroid is indeed possible. It will only be necessary to find a large and most suitable flying piece of rock ", - says Du.
"Interestingly, NASA is planning something similar as part of its Asteroid Redirect Mission."
“One of the challenges is to select the most suitable asteroid with the right structure, shape and orbit. There were concepts, according to which the issue of placing an asteroid between Earth and Mars was considered. The behavior of the asteroids in this case changed in such a way that they would act as transporters between the two planets. The additional mass around the asteroid, in turn, provided protection from the effects of cosmic radiation.
“The main task associated with this concept would be to move a potentially habitable asteroid into a certain orbit (this would require the availability of technologies that we do not currently have), as well as the extraction and processing of minerals on this asteroid. We have no experience in this either. "
“The size and density of such an object is more suitable for sending a team of 4-6 people there, rather than building something like a colony level. And NASA is now preparing for this. "
The size: 410x420x90mm
Age: from 12 years old
Number of details: 3803
Vendor code: LEGO 10188
Year of issue: 2008
Upgrade your LEGO Star Wars toy collection with a new functional and complete adventure set lEGO constructor The Death Star. You can assemble this base ship from the movie Star Wars of the same name according to the instructions of Lego 10188. There are many moving parts in the model. The Death Star's huge decks contain a control room and turbo-laser turrets. In addition, there is a high-tech Starfighter ship, a starship beam control point, a room with the Emperor's throne, a storage block spaceships, a laser cannon launch site, an Imperial conference room, a droid maintenance facility and a powerful Death star superlaser ...
Expand the already enormous capabilities of the Death Star in your warfare by rationally using all of its many functions, facing danger in front of a crushing compactor, and duel with Darth Vader to solve further destiny galaxies!
How to open and view the LEGO schematic or building instructions:
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2nd way: click on the link with the right mouse button and select "Save object as ..." or "Save link as ..." from the context menu and download it to your computer. To view Lego diagrams, you can use