Solar Ionization Reactors and Imperial Star Destroyers
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:49 pm
Recently I was going over what powers an ISD and I remembered l33t's point on the Solar Ionization reactor that the ISD was supposed to have. I wondered to myself what it could be--figuring it probably wasn't going to produce anything, I went ahead and watlzed over to Wookieepida and made a rather curios discovery. That there's something else in Star Wars that has something similar to the ISD's I-a2b solar ionzation reactor...and that is:
Yes, the Imperial TIE fighter!
I'll wait for the laughter to die down...
...
Okay, now that you've all surely laughed yourself into a comma, this is actually an amazing breakthrough! Granted, one might ask, they the fuck anyone would use solar energy power for a full on starship?! After all, the TIEs are shitty pieces of crap used only because real fighters are too expensive--
And then it becomes clear, doesn't it? The Empire is straining its budget not only for the ISDs, but with the Death Star, and imposing itself upon countless systems. Fuel of any sort, be it fusion or what have you is going to be expensive. Incredibly expensive. But, what if you can get all of that energy for free? Or at least, avoid having to generate it? and that's when the idea for the SG Universe Destiny came into mind! It was a ship that was designed to refuel itself from the universe itself; stars. Practically the freest source of energy in the universe, assuming you can harness it properly or well enough for such a thing. And we've seen the SW display at least some sort of heat shielding on Mustafaar (sp?). Granted, not nearly in the league as a star, but still...it presents ideas.
Certainly we see on obvious indication of a collector assembly on an ISD, though the possibility exists. But we need not even go that far; the Empire could simply create large yards near stars where they gather this energy from stars and then transfer them to ISDs in the form of powercells or some such.
The Solar Ionization reactor may not be so much a reactor, but a giant battery! It makes perfect sense; the similar type of engine that the TIEs run off of, but on a grander scale. We already know that TIEs run off solar power, probably with far greater efficiency than we do today, probably with a small sort of 'reactor' to store up energy or to allow for refueling at an ISD.
This might also explain the Battle Lance; the Empire had enhanced their method of hypermatter technology and sought to create a new reactor for smaller ships--which simply didn't work and the the ship itself was vaporized when the reactor came online.
Thoughts?
Yes, the Imperial TIE fighter!
I'll wait for the laughter to die down...
...
Okay, now that you've all surely laughed yourself into a comma, this is actually an amazing breakthrough! Granted, one might ask, they the fuck anyone would use solar energy power for a full on starship?! After all, the TIEs are shitty pieces of crap used only because real fighters are too expensive--
And then it becomes clear, doesn't it? The Empire is straining its budget not only for the ISDs, but with the Death Star, and imposing itself upon countless systems. Fuel of any sort, be it fusion or what have you is going to be expensive. Incredibly expensive. But, what if you can get all of that energy for free? Or at least, avoid having to generate it? and that's when the idea for the SG Universe Destiny came into mind! It was a ship that was designed to refuel itself from the universe itself; stars. Practically the freest source of energy in the universe, assuming you can harness it properly or well enough for such a thing. And we've seen the SW display at least some sort of heat shielding on Mustafaar (sp?). Granted, not nearly in the league as a star, but still...it presents ideas.
Certainly we see on obvious indication of a collector assembly on an ISD, though the possibility exists. But we need not even go that far; the Empire could simply create large yards near stars where they gather this energy from stars and then transfer them to ISDs in the form of powercells or some such.
The Solar Ionization reactor may not be so much a reactor, but a giant battery! It makes perfect sense; the similar type of engine that the TIEs run off of, but on a grander scale. We already know that TIEs run off solar power, probably with far greater efficiency than we do today, probably with a small sort of 'reactor' to store up energy or to allow for refueling at an ISD.
This might also explain the Battle Lance; the Empire had enhanced their method of hypermatter technology and sought to create a new reactor for smaller ships--which simply didn't work and the the ship itself was vaporized when the reactor came online.
Thoughts?