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Death Star Question

Discussion in 'General Movie Discussion' started by Bargwill Tomder, Jan 9, 2017.

  1. Bargwill Tomder

    Bargwill Tomder Rebel Official

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    Was thinking about asking Pablo Hidalgo about this, but figured I would start here.

    In all of the movies with the Death Star, it is shown to a) be mobile, and b) have hyperdrive.

    I understand if hyperdrive is something that doesn't necessarily require "exhaust" the way that combustion normally does (nevermind the fact that when R2 engages the Millenium Falcon hyperdrive at the end of ESB, the whole ship lurches "upward" as if it just burned a mean batch of nitro), but what about it's routine mobility. Every other ship in SW has some kind of glowing exhaust pipes, and you would have to figure that a ship the size of the Death Star would have MASSIVE ones. Can anyone help me understand this, aside from the "Relax, it's just a movie" explanation?

    Thanks.
     
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  2. eeprom

    eeprom Prince of Bebers

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    My take was that the rear thrusters we see in SW ships aren’t related to their hyper-drives. They’re for in and out-atmosphere propulsion. I’m not 100% how the Deathstar exactly propels itself at sub-light though. Tons of small rockets not visible at that scale? Probably mentioned in a book I haven’t read or don’t recall.
     
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  3. Bosc

    Bosc Force Attuned

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    In real-life spacecraft, gyroscopes can be used for orientation. Perhaps, with their advanced technology, something similar can be used for propulsion, too?

    I think it's a good question for Pablo.
     
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  4. eeprom

    eeprom Prince of Bebers

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    Just a thought: We know the Deathstar is massive enough to generate its own gravitational pull. Could be the station is able to augment the gravitational waves and ride its own wake (so to speak).

    Some EU material indicates the DS trench housed numerous thruster ports that don’t glow on account of the reactor being located so deep in the station’s core. This is a cool question, I’m curious to know what Pablo has to say.
     
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  5. cawatrooper

    cawatrooper Dungeon Master

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    Also note the lack of resistance in space (and after the fall of Hosnian Prime, the lack of "Republic" there too- amirite? ;))

    Without friction, a Death Star wouldn't necessarily need "massive" hyperdrives. There might be some rather small ones on its surface, that we simply do not see because it's so massive.
     
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  6. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Rebel Official

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    For starters the Death Star probably does need maneuvering thrusters to bring itself into an optimal firing position.

    However, to jump into hyperspace apparently requires some massive burst of thrust, as suggested by the Avenger in ESB, additionally using what appear to be its four booster engines.

    Fact remains that we never got a good look of the Death Star's side opposite to the superweapon dish, and that the ANH computer graphics clearly revealed a similiar structure sitting on the equatorial ring which was also finalized as a matte painting:

    [​IMG]

    It does look like the superweapon dish but with good reason: What we saw in ANH was a particle beam with obvious "pockets" of exotic matter destroying Alderaan (in contrast to the 'laser' beams seen in ROJ and RO).

    As a particle beam it would accelerate the Death Star in the opposite direction of the target (as all thrust in conventional rocket engines is essentially created by a particle beam), thus a counterthrust on the opposite side would make a lot of sense, if not being mandatory.

    Alternately, jumping into hyperspace is not the only method to travel at FTL speeds. When we watch Luke in ESB he tells Artoo that he wants to fly "manual" and we never see his X-Wing make the jump into hyperspace (and when we later see him arrive in the Bespin system he is noticably ver far from the planet). Besides, that another form of FTL capability (next to the hyperspace jump) would resolve a lot of issues concerning the Falcon's flight from the Anoat to the Bespin system, Lucas himself suggested it in AotC when we saw the refugee ship - according to the screenplay flying FTL - in normal space.

    Thus, one could argue that the Death Star doesn't need hyperdrive boosters (admittedly, it's a lot of mass to accelerate), assuming it exclusively applies the *other* FTL drive.
     
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  7. JarJar

    JarJar Guest

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    Relax its just a movie
     
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  8. SKB

    SKB Force Sensitive

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    Anyone noticed the Death Star Plans image of the DS in ANH and RO has its primary dish on the equator, but on the actual one it doesn't? ;)

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    #8 SKB, Jan 11, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2017
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  9. Bosc

    Bosc Force Attuned

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    That's what @Lt. Hija was pointing out a few posts up. While in actuality it was a design change, he was making an attempt to link it with the Death Star's propulsion, which I think is very clever.

    EDIT - I misread your post. You're saying the plans are different between the movies. That's a good catch... I didn't notice that at all.
     
  10. eeprom

    eeprom Prince of Bebers

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    More tomfoolery by Galen Erso I'd imagine :)
     
  11. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Rebel Official

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    The latest posts left me somewhat confused. If I read @SKB correctly, then the crude computer graphic in RO and ANH (seen in the Bay 327 hangar control room and at Yavin IV) are identical, i.e. the sublight propulsion dish is on the equator (on the "dark side" of the Death Star "moon").

    As a matter of fact I'm increasingly convinced that's correct. The actual superweapon should be something that falls under the category "For the eyes of the Emperor only", i.e. if it fell into the wrong hands somebody else could just copy the superweapon and the exclusive strategic advantage of the Death Star would be null and void.

    Therefore it doesn't show up on the plans at all in ANH (and RO?).
     
  12. Rieekan

    Rieekan SWNN Hawkeye
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