A planetary physicist reveals how the science in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' actually holds up.

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The science behind 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is surprisingly sound.



*.Scientists who love Star Wars say the movies are science fantasy, not science fiction.

*.That distinction means the audience is immersed in an alternate universe where not all forces act the way they do on Earth.

*.But there are a few very believable ways the franchise employs technology and physics to craft a credible story.

You might assume that " Star Wars:  The Last Jedi, " which is still set in a  “galaxy far, far away,” would have  little to do with the physics life on  Earth.

But a high-profile physicist disagrees.

Kevin Grazier is a planetary physicist  who designed the software NASA  used to explore Saturn on its Cassini  mission . Grazier, a computer science  professor at West Point, also made  sure the cinematic science was sound  in films like "Gravity" and the TV  series "Battlestar Galactica."

He acknowledges that you have to  suspend a good deal of scientific  disbelief to get on board with some  parts of "The Last Jedi."

The idea that a lightsaber that can  cut, melt, and burn through just  about anything, and the notion that  Jedis can use a force to project  themselves into distant  battlegrounds are both pretty  far-fetched.For a devoted Star Wars fan like Grazier, that's okay.

“D oes it matter if that science is  inaccurate? No,” he told Business  Insider.

But there are a few surprising ways that some of the franchise's boldest ideas are grounded in not-so-far-off scientific principles and technology.

Here are four of the coolest ways that the characters in Star Wars are (almost) like us.


Robots like C-3PO and BB-8 are plausible future helpers.

The way the Star Wars crew  employs artificial intelligence is not so far from reality.

“In the not too distant future we will  probably have droids that are as  smart as C-3PO and BB-8” Grazier said.

Currently, Google’s AI is doing okay at  a handful of languages — whereas  C-3PO is fluent in over 6,000. But researchers are betting that Google’s  AI is going to get much smarter in the coming years — in 2014, it was  estimated to have an IQ around 26.5,  but by 2016, Google AI had nearly  doubled its smarts to an IQ of 47.3. That's still not as sharp as an average  six-year-old, but it's an impressive  leap.

Last week, scientists at NASA  announced they’d successfully  employed Google’s machine learning  to track down two new planets.

Meanwhile, a robot named Sophia  managed to become the first AI of its  kind granted citizenship in Saudi  Arabia earlier this year. Sophia still sounds very robotic, but it can converse without pre-programmed responses — a potential first step towards more robot helpers for humans.


Moving at warp speed is a possibility that can't be ruled out.


Is it possible to travel  faster than the speed of  light like the valiant  Rebellion fighters do?

Grazier said there’s scientific evidence that other dimensions could exist  beyond our familiar four dimensions  of space and time. That's a potential  reality that quantum physicists  wrestle with every day . If the  multiverse does exist, it’s possible  that alternate universes and  dimensions don’t share the physical  laws of our own.

That idea is ripe for exploration in a  fictional series like "Star Wars," since  we don’t have definitive answers to  properly refute it.Grazier said the question marks about the laws of quantum physics are big enough that "you can sell this as a way to travel faster than light."


'The Force' may actually be with you.



The forces  we  experience on Earth may not operate like the powerful,  people-projecting, weapon-deflecting one in "Star Wars" — but force fields  do happen here.

“If there’s a magnetic field and a  charged particle passes through it, it  will experience a force,” Grazier said. "That’s a real-life force field."

But channeling enough force to  project a hologram to a distant battle is, of course, unrealistic.

“It’s the degree, amount, rate, that  makes it impossible,” Grazier said.

Still, some force fields on Earth are  nearly as mysterious as those in the  movies.

A report in The New York Times about  the US government's efforts to  investigate potential UFO sightings  described an incident in whichpilots saw something bizarre on their screens in flight.

“They’re seeing an object that seems to have a force field — as they describe it — around it, that’s hovering before it suddenly disappears out of the sky as soon as they think they’re getting a radar lock on it,” Times Reporter Helene Cooper said on The Daily podcast.

The first rule of space: Avoid the vacuum.

The first rule of space: Avoid the  vacuum.

ESA/Getty Images

Physicist Stephen Cass, a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum, co-authored the book "Hollyweird Science" with Grazier. Cass told Business Insider that the characters in "Star Wars" share an important habit with astronauts from Earth: everybody avoids going outside.

“This is actually quite legit,” Cass said.

Real-life humans can't survive in the  low-density, low-pressure  environment of outer space, which is  essentially a vacuum. "Star Wars"  characters like former Princess  (now-General) Leia steer clear, too.

Cass said "astromechs" exist in the "Star Wars" universe because robotic  mechanics for spaceships help people  avoid the logistical headache of  suiting up and heading out into the  elements.

“It's just a pain in the ass, and its  better to have a robot do that job,”  Cass said.

Who knew the producers of a $220  million dollar blockbuster were so  pragmatic?
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