Hyperdrive inhibitor

The hyperdrive inhibitor was a device critical in hyperdrive instrumentation: it prevented head-long trips into raging stars.

When astrogation computers registered a sun, the hyperdrive inhibitor prevented the ship from getting out of hyperspace near the star. It was possible, but dangerous, to disengage the inhibitor.

History
It was in use since the Old Republic, at least, and most starships carried hyperdrive inhibitors. Failure of the device would be fatal if the ship jumped to a location too close to a star.

The planet Sedri was registered as a huge sun by starships, due to the entity called Golden Sun. That way the planet remained hidden from galactic technology for centuries, until an Imperial scout found it by accident. Yet the only way to travel to Sedri involved disabling the hyperdrive inhibitor, and many ships were lost.

The Empire tried to control the Golden Sun, that would have allowed them to hide Imperial fleets and planet as hyperdrive inhibitors would detect them as stars. However the Golden Sun vanished and regular travel to Sedri became possible.

Behind the Scenes
Note that the case explained here is different to that of the gravity wells related to Interdiction fields and there is no known relationship between interdiction fields and the hyperdrive inhibitor.

Appearances

 * Battle for the Golden Sun