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"A Leicestershire-based entrepreneur has launched a funding drive on Kickstarter UK to create an &amp;quot;open-source&amp;quot; Death Star to protect the Earth from threats &amp;quot;far, far away&amp;quot;. The &amp;#039;Kickstarter Open Source Death Star&amp;#039; project has already attracted \u00A373,317 from 568 backers. But it has a long way to go if it is to reach the \u00A320 million target by April 1 - fittingly, April Fools&amp;#039; Day.   Posted by a user called Gnut.co.uk, the opening line of the Kickstarter listing says: &amp;quot;We need to protect ourselves from threats far far away so lets build a death star (sic).&amp;quot; The page refers to a petition lodged last November that called on the US government to construct a Death Star to &amp;quot;spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration and more, and strengthen our national defense&amp;quot;. As the petition secured over 34,000 signatures, it got a response from the White House. Unfortunately, the government said that a Death Star &amp;quot;isn&amp;#039;t on the horizon&amp;quot;, largely because it would cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000 to build.  But despite the US offering assurances that they instead have &amp;quot;floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a lightsaber and [an] advanced (marshmallow) cannon&amp;quot;, Gnut does not feel this goes far enough.   The Death Star Kickstarter page says that the \u00A320m raised would go towards &amp;quot;more detailed plans and enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports&amp;quot;. But the project admits that it would then have to find \u00A3543,000,000,000,000,000 to &amp;quot;secure full funding for actual construction&amp;quot;.  However, it does expect to keep costs low by the entire project using open source hardware and software. Pledges of \u00A31 get the project&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;thanks and knowledge that we are one step towards a safer planet&amp;quot;. But pledges of \u00A310 or more also get their name etched on the MSE-6-Series droids that will be used on the finished station.  The project says that the only risk to the Death Star is &amp;quot;the Force&amp;quot;, but also adds: &amp;quot;The main challenge is assuring Kickstarter that this is a joke and not a serious project. As proof, the goal has been set high enough to make successful funding almost impossible.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a456827/death-star-project-seeks-kickstarter-funding/>