Hyperspace beacon/Legends



Hyperspace beacons, also known as "jump beacons", were used as fixed navigation points for hyperspace travel c. 4000 BBY. They were known to be in use in the Tion Cluster as early as 25,100 BBY. Beacons recorded local hyperspace data, which was then downloaded by visiting spacecraft. Each beacon was a massive supercomputer in space that kept accurate data on routes to a limited number of other beacons, providing practical limitations on hyperspace jumps in both distance and direction. A local network might require as many as twenty jump beacons, with an individual beacon transmitting astrogational information from a ship to the rest of the network. The beacons were maintained and patrolled by the Republic Spacelane Bureau. Reliability of available data was only about 80%. Beacons were moored in open space between systems to avoid the effects of gravitation.

Pirates sometimes reprogrammed the beacons to transmit incorrect coordinates to ships, sending them into deep space so the ships could be ambushed and pillaged far from the interference of the Republic.

Around the time of the Mandalorian Wars, the beacons became redundant with the introduction of navicomputers, which were then capable of storing millions of hyperspace routes, although certain sectors with notoriously difficult navigational routes, like the Tapani Sector, continued to utilize hyperspace beacons well into the Imperial Era.

Examples include the Stenness Hyperspace Terminal, Belgoth's Beacon, and Darknon Station, and probably Terman Station, as well.

Behind the scenes
Hyperspace beacons featured prominently in the Tales of the Jedi series, and were apparently necessary for all hyperspace travel during the events of the Great Sith War. However, by the time of the Knights of the Old Republic comics and computer games, hyperspace-capable craft contained autonomous navigation computers.

Appearances

 * Crosscurrent
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Saga of Nomi Sunrider
 * Tales of the Jedi (audio)