- Star Wars is arguably more science fantasy
than science fiction, but the franchise has nonetheless
hugely influenced what we want to see in our sci-fi.
We want lightsabers and blasters wherever possible,
and if we ever get armed spacecraft in our galaxy,
we're probably gonna compare them to X-Wings.
But if we had the means, how would we build one?
(pulsing electronic music)
What's keeping us out of dogfights like you'd see in the
Star Wars movies aren't the ship shapes or weapons,
necessarily, but the propulsion systems.
X-wing engines have a very specific look, size,
and functionality.
And that's what allows them to fight like they do.
So, if we wanted to build our own spacefighter, what real
rocket science would we use?
First we should establish what are the engines
we're looking for.
We are gonna be looking at the T-65 model of X-wing,
the most common model, and it has an engine with a diameter,
four of them, about this big, so any technology that we use
is gonna have to scale relatively small compared to the
powerful rocket engines that we have in use now.
Our real X-wing engines, it's space, there's no sound,
our real X-wing engines are also gonna have to generate
massive thrust because the ships themselves are massive,
around, according to the canon, 10 metric tons.
Mass isn't as much of a problem in space, but it is if you
want to go fast, quickly, like a spacefighter would want to,
and it is if you're constantly entering and exiting planets'
gravity wells.
As they often do.
Finally, our propulsion systems need to look right.
That sounds trivial, but the classic red and blue glow
coming out of the back of Star Wars ships' engines is just
as iconic as anything else.
And so--
(jet noise) (screeches)
We can use a good old-fashioned chart to help us determine
which real, or at least, possible propulsion system
would work best.
All right, now I'm gonna walk out.
I saw what happened to Jango.
Now we need to survey the propulsion systems available to us
and compare and con--
(shrieks)
Surprise lightsaber!
It's a different one this time, you should be surprised!
Let's start with the obvious.
Chemical rockets like we use in the Saturn V
or the Falcon 9.
Both produce a mountain of thrust, but to do so, they have
to use a lot of very, very heavy fuel.
Upwards of 90% of these vehicles' weights are just fuel.
Now, given the size differences here between these vehicles
and the X-wing, and how much fuel they would need to take
with them to dogfight and enter and exit atmospheres,
chemical propulsion just really isn't the way to go.
And it doesn't look right.
So, how about something a little bit more space age?
This is a very basic diagram of an ion engine.
It uses electric fields and how charges are repelled
and attracted to each other to fling out tiny charged
particles from the back of it and create thrust.
Now, these engines are definitely real.
And they look right.
And we've actually used them on space missions, but
because the charged particles they're throwing out the back
of them are so small, have so little mass, the thrust that
they generate is minuscule.
It can take days, weeks, months, or even years to accelerate
up to spacefighter speeds.
You can put your hand behind the beam and it'd be fine,
for like an hour.
I checked.
Not exactly what you want from a nimble spacefighter.
And so--
(pop) (rocket sounds)
(spacefighter sounds) (lightsaber sounds)
We can make our first evaluations.
Although chemical rockets have the thrust that we want,
they are way too big, and their exhaust does not look right.
Ion engines, on the other hand, are small enough,
they look right, but they do not have the thrust
that we want.
So maybe we should go a little bit more sci-fi.
They cut his head off.
They cut Jango's head off.
He had a kid!
It's a kids' movie!
In the 1950s, the design of a new kind of propulsion
system began.
So-called Project Orion wanted to harness the incredible
power of nuclear explosions by throwing nuclear bombs
behind spacecraft and having those spacecraft
ride the nuclear bombs!
As thrust! (laughs)
No, really!
Development was ultimately halted on these so-called
nuclear pulse engines because of the possibility of,
you know, clouds of radioactive fallout all over the place.
But in theory, they could generate a monstrous amount
of thrust.
Enough to take us to the nearest star in just a lifetime.
However, I think you can tell that these don't really look
right for an X-wing and they're too big.
Too bad.
I think we need to go a bit outside of what we've actually
tested and into theoretical territory in order to stay
on target for an X-wing.
Nuclear fusion engines are still out of reach for us,
but only just.
The simplest set up for a rocket could be one that has
gigantic magnetic fields that combine a plasma and uses
something like microwaves to heat up the plasma so hot
that it actually fuses.
And then magnetic nozzles throw all the fusion products
out the back for thrust.
More awesome configurations of the nuclear fusion engine
involve instantaneously collapsing cylinders of metal
like lithium around a plasma, and then flinging that all
out the back.
The point being, nuclear fusion engines have something that
most all other engine configurations don't have.
Both high thrust and high exit velocity from the back,
which is important.
Chemical rockets like in the Saturn V, have very
high thrust, but very low exit velocity.
And ion engines, like you'd find in a TIE fighter,
or one of our spacecraft, have very low thrust,
but very high exit velocity.
Not only do nuclear fusion engines look the part,
they, in theory, could be shrunk down.
We are working on that right now.
And in the Star Wars universe, they have mastered magnetic
confinement in their lightsabers.
So, plausible?
But if our technology was advanced enough to make fusion
engines, we might wanna consider another propulsion system
that uses the most efficient fuel source known to science.
Antimatter.
When identical matter of opposite charge come into contact
with each other, they annihilate and release an enormous
amount of energy in the form of charged particles
and radiation, like gamma rays, according to Einstein's
E equals mc squared.
Now, you could just use magnetic nozzles to throw all this
stuff out the back, and that would be fine.
Or, you could take something like hydrogen and pump it
into the engine and heat it up using the energy that you're
producing from the matter, antimatter reactions
as reaction mass, and throw that out the back
for even more thrust.
Antimatter engines look the part,
and in theory they could be very small.
Antimatter is so efficient in its production of energy,
that just an M&M's worth could take you to Mars.
(rocket sounds)
Let's complete the chart.
(rocket sounds)
(shrieks and makes action sounds)
(lightsaber sounds)
See how that happened?
It's in the remaster.
So, it looks like, using our criteria, the only two engines
that fit the bill for a realistic X-wing engine
are fusion engines and antimatter engines.
They each have the thrust, the size, and the look
that we want.
Whether the engines for our spacefighters are configurations
of antimatter or fusion engines, there are many permutations
of both and some even combine the two, is gonna come down
to which is the more attainable breakthrough for us?
Nuclear fusion or mass antimatter production.
Right now, the estimated cost to produce just one gram
of antimatter, a paper clip's worth, is 62 trillion dollars.
And though we have experimental fusion reactors, we haven't
yet been able to get out more energy from one
than we've put in.
And so, how would you build a real X-wing?
Well, that all hinges on having the correct propulsion
system and at least for now, it seems like humanity's best
bet is to focus on nuclear fusion engines.
At least until antimatter production gets a bit cheaper.
Both antimatter engines and fusion engines, though, have
the thrust, the look, and the efficiency we would need
to create the first real starfighter.
And both configurations make way more sense than the ion
engines that Star Wars gives all of their spacecraft.
But then again, it is not that hard to give a slightly more
scientific answer in a universe that also
includes midichlorians, is it?
Because Science--(blaster sound) (scream)
Told ya.
Ya gotta shoot first.
- [Kyle] I told ya!
(funky electronic music)
A really interesting thing about a lightsaber
if it was real, is that because the blade here would just
be contained plasma, plasma is a gas inside of a magnetic
field, it wouldn't weigh anything.
Or next to nothing, just a few grams.
So, if you've ever held a lightsaber, they have heft
to them, a replica lightsaber.
Because this plastic bit is heavy.
But if this was a real lightsaber, it would only weigh
as much as the hilt.
And if you were swinging around, it would feel like you
just have a remote control in your hand that you could
move around hyper-quick and not slow like a sword.
(lightsaber sounds)
Thank you so much for watching, Jerry.
If you want more of me, check out Muskwatch (sings)
with me and Dan Casey, or go to ProjectAlpha.com
and sign up and you can get this show two days earlier
than anyone else.
And you can get the S.P.A.A.C.E. Program,
which is a bit more premium.
And thanks to Ultra Sabers for Rey's lightsaber here.
It's pretty cool, and it ups my surprise game.
And, oh, my hand!
Just kidding.
Nerd.
(electronic and mechanical sounds)