Video: How Do You Build a Death Star? A NASA Engineer Explains

Flickr user Serious Cat

It wouldn't be created by launching pieces from a planet, which is how NASA built the International Space Station.

In 2012, the public used the White House's petition tool We the People to ask the government to build a Death Star. Though the White House said no to the request, it hasn't stopped nerds everywhere from dreaming of a real-life version of the massive battle station.

So is it possible to build a Death Star? Brian Muirhead, chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says it is, but not by launching pieces from a planet, which is how NASA built the International Space Station. Instead, the Death Star would have to be built from and around an asteroid.

"It could provide the metals, it could provide the organic compounds, you'd have water -- all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star," Muirhead said. 

To learn more, check out the video below from Wired