
George Lucas gave the original task of designing a "Death Star" to concept artist and spaceship modeler Colin Cantwell, who had collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Īlthough details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during the production of Star Wars (1977), the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station over 100 kilometers in diameter was consistent in all of them. When he set to creating the first act of this outline as a feature, he borrowed the Death Star concept from the third act. While more powerful and technologically advanced than both Death Stars, being capable of destroying entire planetary systems, it is destroyed by the Resistance.Īccording to franchise creator George Lucas, his initial outline for the Star Wars saga did not feature the Death Star in the portion that would be adapted as the first film. The 2015 film The Force Awakens introduced Starkiller Base, a planet converted by the First Order into a superweapon. It inspired numerous similar superweapons in fiction, as well as in other Star Wars works. Since its first appearance, the Death Star has become a cultural icon and a widely recognized element of the Star Wars franchise. The second Death Star is destroyed by a direct attack on its main reactor, as its incomplete state allows ships to fly through its infrastructure. The first Death Star requires significant time to fully recharge its superlaser, and it is destroyed by the Rebel Alliance by taking advantage of its one weakness: an exhaust port which, when hit with a precise shot, triggers a chain reaction throughout the station's entire infrastructure.

Both Death Stars were built by the Galactic Empire to strengthen its control over the galaxy, and they are armed with kyber crystal–powered superlasers, which can destroy entire planets. The second Death Star appears in Return of the Jedi, and is significantly larger at 200 kilometres (120 mi) in diameter and, although unfinished, is technologically more advanced than its predecessor.

The first version, which appears in the original 1977 film Star Wars, is stated to be more than 160 kilometers (99 mi) in diameter, and is crewed by an estimated 1.7 million military personnel and 400,000 droids. The Death Star is a fictional mobile space station and galactic superweapon featured in the Star Wars space-opera franchise. Turbolasers, Laser cannons, Tractor beams, and Ion cannonsĪble to destroy a planet with one shot of the superlaser.ġ20 km (Death Star I) 160 km to 900 km (Death Star II, varies depending on source and not mentioned in films)
