The Empire's ultimate terror weapon, the Death Star was a battle station several hundred kilometers in diameter and mounting a directed energy weapon capable of completely gravitationally disrupting an Earthlike planet with a single shot. This was an insanely inefficient use of resources, for the cost of a single Death Star the Empire could have produced tens or hundreds of thousands of conventional star destroyers, but it was intended more as a statement than as an efficient military machine. |
The Empire's ultimate terror weapon, the Death Stars were battle stations several hundred kilometers in diameter and mounting a directed energy weapon capable of completely gravitationally disrupting an Earthlike planet with a single shot. |
It was nonetheless a very dangerous and important target for the Rebellion. Having a known and critical flaw in its design that could cause its complete destruction from a small bomb was a bonus too. |
Two such Death Stars were featured in the original movie trilogy, the first in [/A New Hope]?, and the second in [/Return Of The Jedi]?. In the first movie, [/Luke Skywalker]? pilots an /X-Wing? starfighter through a trench-like indentation on the surface of the Death Star, evading a pursuing [/Darth Vader]? long enough to launch a missile down a ventilation tube that reaches right down into the "reactor core" and causing a chain reaction to destroy the battle station. In Return of the Jedi, a group of fighters and the [/Millennium Falcon]? piloted by /Lando Calrissian fly into the centre of the ship through a narrow maze of pipes and destroy the reactor directly, rushing out in just enough time to escape the ensuing explosion. |
The Empire's ultimate terror weapon, the Death Stars were battle stations several hundred kilometers in diameter and mounting a directed energy weapon capable of completely gravitationally disrupting an Earthlike planet with a single shot.
Two such Death Stars were featured in the original movie trilogy, the first in [/A New Hope]?, and the second in [/Return Of The Jedi]?. In the first movie, [/Luke Skywalker]? pilots an /X-Wing? starfighter through a trench-like indentation on the surface of the Death Star, evading a pursuing [/Darth Vader]? long enough to launch a missile down a ventilation tube that reaches right down into the "reactor core" and causing a chain reaction to destroy the battle station. In Return of the Jedi, a group of fighters and the [/Millennium Falcon]? piloted by /Lando Calrissian fly into the centre of the ship through a narrow maze of pipes and destroy the reactor directly, rushing out in just enough time to escape the ensuing explosion.