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- "We call it the Death Star. There is no better name, and the day is coming soon when it will be unleashed."
- ―Scientist Galen Erso
A Death Star was a gargantuan space station armed with a planet-destroying superlaser powered by kyber crystals.
Death Stars[]
DS-1 Battle Station[]
- "That's no moon. It's a space station."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi
Constructions modules were used during the construction of the Death Star.
The DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station,[5] also known as the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station,[10] was a superweapon that was originally designed by the Geonosians during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. The project was later taken over by the Galactic Empire;[2] however, the plans for the battle station were stolen from Scarif by the Rebel Alliance,[9] which led to the weapon's destruction at the Battle of Yavin, but not before it unleashed its planet-destroying cannon on the Imperial security complex on Scarif,[9] Jedha City on Jedha,[2] and annihilated the entire planet of Alderaan.[7]
The name "Death Star" was coined by the scientists who found themselves working on the project, such as Galen Walton Erso.[9] The name was adopted by the Empire at large, with Major Lio Partagaz of the Imperial Security Bureau considering it "a prescient turn of phrase."[11]
DS-2 Battle Station[]
- "The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battle station."
- ―Mon Mothma
The Second Death Star orbiting Endor.
After the destruction of the first Death Star, the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station was the second and final Death Star constructed by the Galactic Empire and was designed to be more powerful than the original. During the Battle of Endor, the Death Star II's energy shield was destroyed and the Rebels used the unfinished superstructure of the battle station against it, destroying the weapon as they had its predecessor.[6]
Behind the scenes[]
Inspiration of other franchises[]
The idea of the Death Stars and empowering players to be able to tell stories with similar engines of death and levels of sci-fi gravitas and drama was an inspiration for the now-massive novel and wargame franchise Warhammer 40,000 as noted at the start of the first rule book for the first edition.[12]
Mimas[]
That's no space station; it's a moon.
Mimas, the smallest and the innermost of seven major moons orbiting the planet Saturn, is notable for a single enormous impact crater called Herschel. The appearance of Mimas and Herschel in pictures taken during the space probe Voyager I's 1980 flyby of the Saturn system showed a similarity to the first Death Star, with Herschel appearing as the superlaser disc, as remarked in the scientific press.[13] This resemblance became one of Mimas's most notable characteristics in astronomy and popular culture.[14]
During the Cassini orbiter's visit to the Saturn system in 2004, the resemblance was noted again in the official press releases[15] and by the scientific press.[16] However, Cassini's more recent images of Mimas do not all resemble a Death Star orbiting Saturn, as the moon is more egg-shaped then the battlestation.[17]
White House petition[]
In late 2012, a petition was submitted to the White House website urging that the United States government build a real Death Star as a economic stimulus and a means to ensure people got back to work again, and wanted its completion by 2016 at the earliest. The petition gained more then 25,000 signatures, ensuring that an official response be supplied. In early 2013, the proposal was rejected (in a tongue-and-cheek manner), citing that the overall cost of the Death Star's construction would amount to a cost exceeding $852 quadrillion, and would take 833,000 years before it could even be ready for construction due to the rate of steel production. Another reason for the rejection was also because the Government "did not support blowing up planets."[18] As such, the Star Wars Blog, in response to it, created a light-hearted, in universe reply from the Galactic Empire's Public Relations department were the Empire, with official statements from Admiral Conan Antonio Motti and Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, shrugged off the criticisms by the planet Earth's leaders regarding the design of the battlestation. In addition, in the same source, it also denounced the planet for grossly overestimating the cost of designing the Death Star, as well as commenting the overall lack of production methods of the planet in comparison of the Galactic Empire, even implying that the planet's leaders were cowardly in their decision.[19]
Appearances[]
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
Non-canon sources[]
Brick or Treat: LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales Pays Tribute to Horror Classics with New Poster Series - Updated on StarWars.com (backup link)- 20 Eerie Easter Eggs from LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Strap in Starfighter, Star Wars is Taking Over in Fortnite: GALACTIC BATTLE! on Fortnite's official website (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
- ↑ Star Wars: Rogue One: Death Star Deluxe Book and 3D Wood Model
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
A Galaxy On Fire on Fantasy Flight Games' official website (backup link)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
"Last Call at the Zero Angle" — Star Wars Insider 156
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- ↑ Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- ↑
Star Wars: Andor — "Jedha, Kyber, Erso"
- ↑ Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- ↑ Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.93, no.3.
- ↑ Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy: Saturn's Moon Mimas and the Death Star March 17, 1997
- ↑ Cassini Flies by Saturn's Tortured Moon Mimas, NASA-JPL press release, August 5, 2005
- ↑ Kelly Young, Saturn Moon is Death Star Twin, Newscientist, 11 February 2005
- ↑ See, for example, this image.
- ↑ This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For on White House (backup link archived on January 12, 2013)
- ↑ Planet Earth Abandons Death Star Project In Face Of Superior Galactic Imperial Power on StarWars.com (backup link)
