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The official novelization of the
ROTS film states very plainly that the common power generation
technology in the Republic for starships and personal vehicles are "fusion furnaces" operating on
the same basic principles as suns - i.e., nuclear fusion. Fusion
provides up to ~800 terajoules per kilogram of fuel.
Republic attack cruisers can take off, land, and take off again without
refueling. If they have the ability to come to a full halt in mid-trip
as well as fight and maneuver, this would suggest at least 2 gigajoules
of available energy reserves per kilogram of ship; given a probable
weight on the order of millions of tons, this places reactor capacity
on the minimum order of 1018 joules.A lightsaber may be operated for some time without requiring a recharge. A lightsaber may, in the course of a second, melt perhaps a meter long strip of metal. By reference, melting a 100x2x2 cm strip of steel would take a significant fraction of a megajoule of energy. If a lightsaber can put out that level of power for an entire hour, it would contain several GJ of energy. It is unclear how long a lightsaber may be operated continuously, or if lightsabers have a constant output; this may vary according to the specific model. |
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