StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Or maybe it is...

http://www.starwars.com/community/askjc ... 20809.html

They are solar sails. NASA has been experimenting with this idea for decades. It's a concept based on real science. The idea is that the solar wind energy from a star could be caught by large sails to push spacecraft through interstellar space.

It is a real tech being investigated, but the reason the alternate explanations are being made is the sail's surface area is too small for it's observed acceleration.

SirNitram wrote:It is a real tech being investigated, but the reason the alternate explanations are being made is the sail's surface area is too small for it's observed acceleration.

Actually, never in AOTC do you see Dooku's ship accelerate with the sail open. When he takes off from Geonosis, his sail is not deployed. He doesn't deploy it until he is in orbit near the TF vessels, and is at what appears to be a constant velocity. The ICS makes very clear that the sail is ornimental, or somehow related to the hyperdrive. It does not drive the ship at sublight.

ICS speculates about what it does without saying it is not a normal solar sail. many people(including our own Darth Wong) insist it can't possibly be a solar sail, but the ship's designer says it catches light from the sun to move the ship.

who do we believe?

Lord Edam wrote:but the ship's designer says it catches light from the sun to move the ship.

What ship designers? Where are you getting this info?

I prefer to believe the Star Wars Jedi Council. If they insist that the solar sail draws energy from stars, then I'm assuming thats the truth. This would help "pull" them into hyperspace I'm guessing.

I'd believe the ICS. It's impossible for a normal solar sail to get to go transgalactic.

Thrawn, Im not saying the sails power alone will get them across the galaxy. The sail probably helps them enterhyperspace by drawing power from a start, thus "pulling" it into hyperspace.

Here should be the answer for the "Official source of the Force." Starwars.com: AOTC Databank: Genosion Solar Sailor: Epanded Universe.

Count Dooku's solar sailer is a hybrid of obscure technologies, its core body being a modified Punworcca 116-class sloop while the sail was provided by the Count himself. Geonosian engineers, who have long had a history of designing atmospheric sailing vessels, had no problem merging the two into the finished craft.

The term solar sail is a misnomer, since Count Dooku's interstellar sloop uses an as-yet unknown brand of energetic propulsion far more exotic than stellar radiation. Dooku acquired the delicate and ancient sail from mysterious Gree artisans, who developed a technology that harnesses supralight emissions for interstellar travel.

The solar sailer, like other Geonosian ships, uses a sophisticated array of narrow tractor/repulsor beams as offensive grapples and steering aids when in flight, affording the vessel an impressive maneuverability.

The power for it's propulsion is unknown.

I read somewhere that Saxton plans to, or already has, gone into further post-ICS detail regarding the Solar Sailer. (Space limitations in the ICS preventing his thoughts from being printed in that regard) I think that it uses the sails only for auxilliary or 'pleasure cruise' purposes. The real punch comes from forgotten Gree technologies. This reconciles both Saxton's official commentary and the intent of the modelmaker.

I was thinking that the sail is just for show, and in the ICS, it says it has "no detectable support system", so I was thinking that it's systems are hidden somewhere in the ship.

Whats more Canon the Official Starwars Website or a lucas film liscensed ICS.

Doomriser wrote:I read somewhere that Saxton plans to, or already has, gone into further post-ICS detail regarding the Solar Sailer. (Space limitations in the ICS preventing his thoughts from being printed in that regard) I think that it uses the sails only for auxilliary or 'pleasure cruise' purposes. The real punch comes from forgotten Gree technologies. This reconciles both Saxton's official commentary and the intent of the modelmaker.

He has commented on this recent sw.com posting, but only in private e-mail. It was very humorous, and also a bit sad. Whether he will address this in public or not, I don't know.

countdooku wrote:Whats more Canon the Official Starwars Website or a lucas film liscensed ICS.

Star Wars Fan Question: Does Darth Vader disappear at the end of Rotj
Jedi Council: Yes.

Lord Edam wrote:ICS speculates about what it does without saying it is not a normal solar sail. many people(including our own Darth Wong) insist it can't possibly be a solar sail, but the ship's designer says it catches light from the sun to move the ship.

who do we believe?

ICS is official (in the LFL meaning of the term). What it posted on starwars.com is not.

Incidentally, it cannot be a true solar sailor. The surface area of the ship's sail is just not big enough. Science and logic overrides quotes that have nothing to do with any EU material. In fact, while a brilliant designer, Chang has no authority to say anything about the ships he designs for the movies. He should never have been talking about that in the first place.

Ossus did you just say www.starwars.com is not official compared to the books, ouch. I believe it has been stated especially on TPM VHS which clearly states in bright bold yellow letters Starwars.com as being the "Official Source of the Force." Seeing as this should have some Canonisity. Plus wouldn't it be more official as GL could personally be able to make a change if something is done incorrectly or not to his liking. The Solar Sail is a Monomer The statement about it being a Solar sail contradicts what is in the official Solar Sailer section of the website.


Why wouldn't this website be OFFICIAL information: http://www.starwars.com/databank/starsh ... index.html

This is how the Official site states how it works. http://www.starwars.com/databank/starsh ... er/eu.html

I believe this to be highly more official than the Concept Artists words, He probably meant that he got the Idea of the sails from Nasa and such, not that they are in fact "Solar" sails. The website under databank has what I would consider to be OFFICIAL information, The website should surely be more official than a book that once it is printed cannot be changed or edited for problems, while the Official website can be and if any errors were to occur they could change or edit them. I believe the Webpage should come before Novelizations and rescourse books in the list of Canonnism.
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The novelization should be higher. What you say is a binary solution.

Generally, a webpage is considered a less plausible source than a book. Starting in secondary in my school, for big projects, you are required to have some book sources (half) and a MAXIMUM of half from the Internet.

I think Starwars.com is probably official, but so is the ICS.

Websites can change to the latest information, but there is a flip side, which is that they often contain UNconfirmed information because a webpage's data is so new and they know if it is wrong, they can just remove it. Rest assured that when the data or idea is fully confirmed, it'll find its way into a book.

The official policy would probably therefore say both are equal. Our unofficially sanctioned (by LFL anyway) policy of trying to assess credibility within the officials by means similar to how we will analyze a real world event will give the website points for modern-ness, but the book with credibility points for using fully-confirmed data.

There is, for that matter, even a precedent for the sail in ST:DS9. Specifically, good old Ben Sisko built a replica of an antique Bajoran solar sailing craft. The craft was equipped with ridiculously small sails, and the sails ended up propelling the solar sailing craft at FTL speeds, apparently because the large surface area of the sails interacted with tachyon streams that would not affect a more compact and massive starship, or some such technobabble. (The question is, of course, why interstellar dust, with its enormous surface area relative to mass, did not go FTL and bombard Cardassian space.)

The explanation Mr. Saxton provides, if he does eventually provide one, will almost certainly be something similar, though likely more compelling and with less babble.

The solar sail can be used for moving the ship in a way that it acts like a solar pannel and instead of using the traditional SW power cells for spacecrafst and other transports the solar sail can collect energy from the sun and use solar power to move Dookus ship.