For the science fiction fans: Here is a fascinating chart (sans Death Star of the “Star Wars” series) that compares the size of various spaceships found in popular science fiction culture. Imagine the amount of resources (and technology that doesn’t yet exist) needed to construct even the smallest of these spacecraft. More discussion about this poster can be found at BuzzFeed. You can click on the chart to view a larger size.

Image Found Here

UPDATE 1 (22 Oct. 10): Why no Death Star? Apparently, it’s too big. Via Star Trek Minutiae:

But what about the Death Star? That’s too obvious to miss!

First, the Death Star is so friggin’ huge that it doesn’t fit on even the largest chart I’ve made. And that’s even for the low-ball estimate of the size, which brings me to my second point: No one can agree just how big the Death Stars actually were, so there’s no point in doing their sizes.

Furthermore, the starship size comparison charts were recently updated. You can click on any chart to view a larger size. Via Star Trek Minutiae:

UPDATE 2 (22 March 11): Which astronautical engineering project consumes the most energy? Via io9:

The Enterprise-D, from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Power source: matter-antimatter reactor.
Energy output: 6.8 x 10^16 joules, based on the amount of energy it would take for the Enterprise to do significant damage to a Borg cube, according to this guy.

The Narn’s Q’Guan Heavy Cruiser, fromBabylon 5.
Power source: nuclear fusion.
Energy output: 7.08 x 10^22 joules, according to this site.

Omega Class Destroyer, from Babylon 5.
Power source: four General Fusion 650 high-energy fusion reactors, using gelled deuterium as fuel.
Energy output: 1.83 x 10^23 joules, according to the Cycrow site again.

Colonial Battlestar, from Battlestar Galactica.
Power source: Tyllium reactor.
Energy output: 4.6 x 10^24 joules, according to the Battlestar technical site.

Babylon 5 Station, from Babylon 5.
Power source: eight fusion reactors.
Energy output: 2.5 x 10^24 joules, according to several sites.

Zero Point Module, from Stargate.
Power source: Vacuum energy, from a pocket of subspace.
Energy output: 10^28 joules, according to this guy’s back-of-the-envelope calculations.

The Death Star, from the original Star Wars.
Power source: Some kind of “hypermatter” fusion reactor.
Energy output: It would need to generate 2.4 x 10^32 joules of energy to destroy a planet such as Alderaan. Upper estimates of its power run to around 10^38 joules, or as much energy as our sun generates in 8,000 years, according to this site.

Ringworld, from Larry Niven’s Ringworld novels.
Power source: Solar energy, collected by “shadow squares.”
Energy output: To keep the whole shebang spinning at 770 miles per second, you’d need 1.6 x 10^39 joules, or our sun’s output over 130,000 years, according to this site and a few others. We have a winner!