AboutBrack Valmar Expertise I am an expert on everything Star Wars, having thorough knowledge of nearly all aspects of the Star Wars phenomenon and having read the Star Wars encyclopedia and other reference materials cover to cover several times each. I am particularly adept at answering "in universe" questions related to plots, places, and people though I can also answer the vast majority of "making of" questions as well. I am very dedicated to Star Wars and I guarantee an answer to every question I recieve. If I don`t personnaly know the answer I will either find the answer for you or tell you where you can find it. I am also a "comprehensivist" in the sense that I accept all published stories and articles coming from an official source as being a part of the Star Wars mythos, and am adept at reconciling conflicting accounts, facts, and stories. You name it, I'll explain how it all fits together.
Experience I am a star Wars fanatic myself and I can tell you almost anything you want to know. I've read the Star Wars Encyclopedia cover to cover several times, and have an extensive knowleadge of all things Star Wars. If I don't know off hand, I'll do everything in my power to find out for you.
Question Hi, I have a technical Star Wars question I hope you can help me with. Where exactly on the first Death Star are the sublight engines located? According to the literature I've read, my best guess is that there are two sublight engines located on the Death Star's equator, one on the outer edge of the left side and the other on the outer edge of the right side of the station (left and right if you consider the superlaser dish the front of the Death Side). Is this correct? And from what I gather, the two engines power a network of thrusters ringing the equator, but the thrusters themselves are not the actual engines, just the outlets for the two real engines. Can you please confirm this for me? Thank you very much for your help!
Answer Hi there!
In order to better answer your question, I've done some research on my own and found the majority of my sources to be in agreement. None of these sources point to there being only two sublight engines. I'm curious as to what literature suggested this idea as I'd be very interested in reading it as well. None of my sources give a specific number of ion engines present on the station, but ALL of them refer to a "network of powerful ion engines". As you pointed out in your question, these were indeed located around the station's "equator". Also present onboard was a system of 123 Hyperdrive field generators for superluminal travel. I suppose it's certainly possible that two extremely high powered ion-engines could provide power to the individual thrusters located around the station, but I have two problems with the idea. First, the death star's trench is said to have been 503km long. If there are two engines located along the trench (on opposite sides), then in order to power the thrusters furthest from either engine, radioactive ions travelling at nearly the speed of light would have to travel approximately 126km along the trench before being emitted. Controlling a stream of ions like that would not only be much more dangerous than using a large number of smaller engines spaced more evenly around the station, but it would ultimately probably be more expensive and technologically less likely. My second issue is that, as I've mentioned, I haven't seen any proof or mention of two engines.
I hope this has cleared things up!
Please let me know if you can what your source was for the two engines idea! I'd love to look at it more closely. I hope you'll remember to rate my response and that you won't hesitate to come to me with any future Star Wars queries.
May the Force be With You!
