Could Starkiller Base Have Messed Up the Star Wars Galaxy's Orbits?

Today at San Diego Comic Con, moderator Jenna Busch led a panel chock full of brilliant minds from NASA, Industrial Light and Magic, and Outer Spaces, just to name a few. The talk focused on the science behind the Star Wars galaxy, and how we’re already advancing towards the technology we know and love from that galaxy far, far away.

The panel’s most popular topic was check right off the bat, with Busch launching into a discussion about whether or not Droids are slaves, how blasters should be so fast that characters wouldn’t feasibly be able to dodge them (but, you know, the Force), and whether or not the Death Star could actually exist. The answers were an informative history on how the faults of the Death Star inspired Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens, and how dangerous it would be to build the now-imploded First Order HQ.

“A few people I’ve spoken to said, ‘It’s kind of silly just building this huge thing out of metal that’s moon-sized or large asteroid-sized so why don’t they just hollow out an asteroid or a moon?’,” said Outer Places’s Kieran Dickson. “Someone at the First Order was obviously listening, because that’s what they did with Starkiller Base. If you think about it, it’s a lot more efficient… when actually you have something that has the density to contain everything you need.”

Unfortunately, the very idea of hollowing out an entire planet to build a space station is one that might lead straight into chaos. The possibility of throwing of the planet’s orbit is high, and that in itself would affect the rest of the solar system that Starkiller shares.

“Well, it’s even worse to take the sun,” said NASA JPL’s Kim Steadman, who currently works with the Mars Rover program. “The thing about Starkiller is that it sucks up all the energy of the sun. But that would just vaporize Starkiller Base itself.”

“Details!” exclaimed panelist Travis Langley, author of countless in-depth looks at fandom and psychology.

The panel went on to talk about what Starkiller Base could have done, had it not been blown to bits and lucky enough to be the grave of Han Solo — concluding that even if the materials were available, the credits wouldn’t be. The panel was an incredible look at the science behind the movies, and is available to view in full on Periscope.