gravity well projector

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From the Expanded Universe

In order for hyperdrives to function, a starship must be free of a planet's gravity well. Safety cut-offs restrict the hyperdrive from activating, and the gravitic presence also interferes with a nav computer's ability to calculate accurate coordinates.

The Empire took advantage of this weakness of the hyperdrive and developed artificial gravity well generators. These devices send out powerful waves that disrupt the mass lines in space, thereby simulating the presence of a large stellar body such as an asteroid or a planet. The presence of such simulated mass prevents ships in the area from engaging their hyperdrives, and also drops ships already in hyperspace back to realspace.

The G-7x generators developed by Sienar Fleet Systems are the main weapon of the Immobilizer 418, the first of the Empire's Interdictor-class heavy cruisers. The Empire continued research into refining this technology, making it more powerful and more compact. The last generation of Super-class Star Destroyers, including the Eclipse and the Sovereign featured gravity well generators.

While under optimal circumstances, gravity well generators are effective weapons, they do have their limitations. Powering up a gravity well generator takes 30 seconds. While it can be shut off with no delay, it takes the capacitors 40 seconds to shunt the power and completely recycle. Once a gravity well is placed, it is difficult to move, as it is subject to similar laws of inertia as actual gravitic bodies. The great energy output of a gravity well projector also affects the movement and handling of the interdicting cruiser.

Aboard the first Death Star, a working prototype of an incredibly powerful gravity well projector was nearing the final stages of development. The device, small enough to be carried by two men, required a power source 10 times more powerful than that of a Star Destroyer's main tractor beam. The resultant gravity well, however, was immense -- much larger than those generated by the G-7x.

This prototype projector survived the destruction of the Death Star, and floated for a time within a large chunk of debris. This debris became the center-point of the floating Ugor junkyard in the Paradise system. The gravity well projector was somehow reactivated, and became the center of a vast junk asteroid field. The Ugors, who worship trash, referred to the Death Star fragment -- the new center of their system -- as the Holiest of Holies. The projector itself was known as the Prime Mover. The gravity well projector was removed by a Rebel strike force assisting a Squib mission to disrupt the Ugor trash-hauling racket. With the removal of the projector, the Paradise system fell apart.

Reports of a naturally occurring gravity well generator led the Empire to the Sedri system. There, the bizarre lifeform known as Golden Sun created a gravity well effect that made it appear as if Sedri was a star, not a planet. Research into this naturally occurring effect ceased when the Golden Sun was freed by a Rebel strike team averting a civil war among the native Sedrians.

A vast array of gravity well generators aided in regulating traffic into and out of the Imperial Deep Core during the resurrected Emperor's campaign against the New Republic. These generators formed the backbone of the Imperial Hyperspace Security Net.

Fourteen years after the Battle of Endor, a group of would-be conquerors identified as the Sacorran Triad used the ancient Centerpoint Station to create a vast interdiction field covering the entire Corellian system. As such, Centerpoint Station is the largest gravity well projector on record.

During the Corellian Crisis, New Republic allies on Bakura perfected the hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer (HIMS) system -- the first effective method of countering an interdiction field. The hyperwave sustainer used a gravitic sensor that provides a fast cut-off for a ship's normal hyperdrive, saving it from damage caused by entering a gravity well. It simultaneously generates a static hyperspace bubble. The bubble provides no thrust for the ship, but sustains the ship's presence in hyperspace while its forward momentum carries it along.

Behind the Scenes

Gravity well generators first appeared as a weapon in 1989's Imperial Sourcebook, though the idea that ships cannot engage their hyperdrives in a gravity well was suggested in the novelization of the original Star Wars. The Imperial Interdictor cruiser worked its way into a number of Expanded Universe stories, such as Heir to the Empire and the flight simulator games of LucasArts.