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Possible physics bug in RotJ.

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Poskanzer.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.uucp

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Jun 5, 1983, 9:45:57 PM6/5/83
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In the rebels' holographic simulation (a beautiful effect), the Death
Star is shown in a geostationary (well, endorstationary) orbit. It is
also shown as being only a few Death-Star-radii from the surface, and
certainly less than one Endor-radius.

There is a contradiction here. For the stationary orbit to be that
close, either the planet spins in only a few hours, or it has very light
gravity. The scenes on Endor's surface showed no evidence of either of
the above.

Possible fixes: even when only partially operational, the Death Star
could levitate; or maybe the shield generating station also provided
levitation until the Death Star's engines came on line. Or maybe the
planet did have very light gravity, but there was a humongous mascon
right under the shield station, providing "normal" gravity in the
immediate area. Except that you would expect a lake to collect...
---
Jef

Phil Karn

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Jun 6, 1983, 4:45:36 PM6/6/83
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a
Gee, I'm ashamed that I didn't catch that one too. On the other hand,

Phil Karn

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Jun 6, 1983, 4:47:19 PM6/6/83
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Gee, I'm ashamed that I didn't catch that one too. The Death Star
was obviously Endor-stationary because it had to sit within the
stationary beam of the force field station. I suspect that it
was "levitated" by the force field; that means that they didn't have
to blow it up, it would just have crashed on the planet surface
when the force field was destroyed!

Phil

Phil Karn

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Jun 6, 1983, 11:47:55 PM6/6/83
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Come to think of it, I have a (weak) piece of evidence for my earlier
assertion that the Death Star was not in stationary orbit but was rather
being held up by the force field: the existence of gravity on the station!
(Of course, I know of no Star Wars sequences featuring zero gravity, so...)

Phil

c...@cdi.uucp

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Jun 7, 1983, 2:34:16 PM6/7/83
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I had the impression (from the Alliance Simulation) that it was in
geosynchronus orbit about that moon. Of course one might question
whether such a small body would be able to hold an atmosphere long
enough to evolve Ewoks.

The physics guffaws that gave me the jollies were the fireballs in
vacuum. Oh well, I've learned to accept sound in vacuum ...
--

Chuck Forsberg, Chief Engr, Computer Development Inc.
6700 S. W. 105th, Beaverton OR 97005 (503) 646-1599
cdi!caf

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