• chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    … the death star orbits. The timer for the rebels to blow it up in a New Hope was how long its orbit would take to clear the moon in its path to the rebel base. The battle of endor was fought over the new death star in orbit over the moon.

    Yes, the death star is capable of warp, but that just puts it into orbit over different things.

    • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      It can orbit. It doesn’t have to. It’s capable of moving between systems, it’s not confined to a single gravity well.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yes it orbits in the movies, that doesn’t conflict with anything I said. I’m describing a scenario where it doesn’t (which doesn’t happen in the movies).

      A space station with the ability to achieve orbital speeds on it’s own power means it can also negate orbital speeds, before you jump off. And presumably regain them afterwards, if it doesn’t want to also plummet down to the planet.

      • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Your example was for a space station that doesn’t orbit and you used the death star for that, which does orbit. Does that make sense to you? Cause it’s baffling me

        • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          No, it was not an example of a station station that doesn’t orbit. It was an example of a mobile space station. I agree it would be baffling to read my comment that way.

          Here is a rewording if that helps: You could jump off of a station station without worrying about orbital velocity if it wasn’t orbiting. To have a space station that doesn’t orbit, it would have to be a space station with engines, so that it can cancel that velocity. For an example of a station station that has engines, you can look at the Death Star.

          • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Oh! That’s the confusion. The Death Star wouldn’t be able to cancel out is orbital velocity in any meaningful time frame, but I get what you’re saying. Its engines are tiny compared to its size.

            It’s comparable to saying the ISS is a mobile space station because it can use the engines on the Soyuz to adjust its orbit (in terms of thrust to weight, not mechanics, since the Death Star has its own engines)