Timeline for How was construction of the Death Star(s) kept secret?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 21, 2016 at 15:54 | comment | added | Null♦ | @RogueJedi I don't have it. | |
| Dec 21, 2016 at 15:22 | comment | added | Rogue Jedi | You should update this with information from Catalyst. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 16:38 | vote | accept | Ryan | ||
| Nov 20, 2015 at 10:50 | comment | added | user | The US Manhattan project was also similar to this, though slightly smaller (on the order of 100,000 people). So there are plenty of real-world examples. | |
| Nov 19, 2015 at 21:45 | comment | added | Ghanima | @CodeswithHammer, looks like the Empire has got no Dual-Use regulations... | |
| Nov 19, 2015 at 21:05 | comment | added | Codes with Hammer | @Ghanima: The engineering staff was at the Maw Installation. Qui Xux (if I have the name right) believed the reactor and superlaser were a mining tool. I think this is from the Jedi Academy trilogy. | |
| Nov 19, 2015 at 15:16 | comment | added | Paul D. Waite | @RSmith: somewhat unnervingly, a similar process was also used by Apple when developing the iPhone. | |
| Nov 18, 2015 at 16:53 | comment | added | Matt Burland | @Ghanima: I've got to imagine that "no single person knew" is an exaggeration and shouldn't be taken literally. It should really be "as few people as possible knew". Maybe a few dozen, or a few hundred? | |
| Nov 18, 2015 at 15:35 | comment | added | recognizer | @Gusdor "I have chosen to test this station's destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan." Maybe they'd really never tried the system out before that :b | |
| Nov 18, 2015 at 10:01 | comment | added | Joseph Rogers | Don't forget this is also how the British military kept the development of Tanks under wraps in the first world war. Build in pieces by numerous factories, so that very few people knew what was actually being made. The very name "tank" comes from the cover story. | |
| Nov 18, 2015 at 9:59 | comment | added | Luaan | @JAB True, but remember that we're talking about an empire of about a brazillion people. They could stage a kidnapping of a few thousand engineers if necessary, and keep them under the lid for a few years. Also note that we've seen the original designs in the prequel series, which in itself was based on previously designed and constructed superweapons. And note that a huge part of the energy output of the Death Star was designed to blow through the planetary shield - the message was "no matter your protection, you can't hide". In fact, Alderaan's shield blocked the beam for a split second. | |
| Nov 18, 2015 at 8:18 | comment | added | Gusdor | @JAB and how are they testing it? | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 21:21 | comment | added | JAB | @Random832 You may have a point with the generators, but from an engineering perspective the people working on the focusing tech would need a minimum value for beam power (not to mention probably needing to know various specifics of the beams' physics) in order to design the system so it doesn't destroy itself the first time it tries to fire. | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 21:04 | comment | added | Random832 | @Null Doesn't the superlaser work by focusing eight (or sixty-four, don't know if that's canon) smaller beams? Maybe the people working on those beams' generators didn't know that was going to be done, and the people working on the focusing tech didn't know how powerful the individual beams were going to be. | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 20:09 | comment | added | RSmith | @Ghanima It's a fairly common trope to have secret machines built in parts by separate companies and have them assembled by a crew of a trusted few. It's how Captain Nemo built the Nautilus, too, which in a way could be considered a sort of Death Star of the 1800s. | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 19:17 | comment | added | Null♦ | @Ghanima That's how the book explains it. It's somewhat believable -- a large reactor core by itself doesn't tell you the Empire is building a Death Star. The superlaser would give you a good idea what the Empire is building, but not exactly how they plan to use it (maybe it's a ship-to-ship weapon or for blowing up space stations, but not necessarily whole planets). | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 19:00 | comment | added | Ghanima | "This made sure no single person knew" sorry that just does not hold up at an project that size. Unless Tarkin himself designs the reactor core or the super laser the engineering staff on either of those sub-projects could figure out what this station will be capable of. | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 18:49 | comment | added | RSmith | +1, fantastic answer. Tarkin is an amazing addition to the new Disney canon. | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 18:47 | comment | added | Doctor Doom | Great answer. I never even imagined that the new canon could answer that. +1 | |
| Nov 17, 2015 at 18:30 | history | edited | Null♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 362 characters in body
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| Nov 17, 2015 at 18:24 | history | answered | Null♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |