Did the Empire have a backup set of plans for the first Death Star?
We all know that the Death Star's original design was done by the Geonosians. The people who made the plans did not want them to fall under the control of the Jedi or the Republic, so their ally Count Dooku took them away to a safe location.
Needless to say it had changed hands more than a few times by the time of Rogue One.
Spoilers for Rogue One:
In the movie Rogue One, the Death Star blew up the archive on Scarif with the Death Star's plans still plugged into the Citadel's transmitter. Galen Erso had said, "I know there's a complete engineering archive in the data vault at the Citadel Tower on Scarif." Could the Empire really have blown up the only complete plans in existence, leaving them with no copy?
It is clear from the events of Star Wars: A New Hope that the Empire never managed to get the "stolen Death Star" plans back from the Rebel Alliance.
To make thing more complicated, the Empire eventually managed to fix the flaw in the reactor in time for the second Death Star. To do that without the complete plans would have been painful.
So I was wondering: did they have backups of the plans for the first Death Star?
Best Answer
In A New Hope, Grand Moff Tarkin is told
We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger. Should I have your ship standing by?
It does appear that the plans were still in existence somewhere, likely on the Death Star itself for this exchange to be able to happen.
Most likely Scarif is the only semi accessible place that Galen knows the plans are, since he apparently had some hand in them being there evidenced by the naming of the file there.
The empire likely also had plans for it somewhere else for them to be able to build the second Death Star as well.
Pictures about "Did the Empire have a backup set of plans for the first Death Star?"
Who got the plans for the first Death Star?
The first vital piece of information about the Death Star was obtained during the mission to Darkknell, which took place sometime before the signing of the Corellian Treaty in 2 BBY, during which Darth Vader captured the Rebel Leaders Bail Prestor Organa, Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis and sent them to the unfinished ...Why did the Empire build another Death Star?
The second Death Star was constructed on the edge of the Galaxy above Endor, and was built to maintain fear of the Empire and to restore confidence in its ranks after a devastating loss.When was the Death Star first planned?
Death StarOriginal Death StarFirst appearanceStar Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976 novelization) Star Wars (1977 theatrical film)Created byGeorge LucasInformation11 more rowsWho stole the 2nd Death Star plans?
As part of a devious scheme masterminded by Emperor Palpatine to destroy the Rebel Alliance, the plans were delivered into the hands of the Alliance through Black Sun leader Prince Xizor, under the guise of being stolen, providing them with the technical data needed to formulate the assault on the Death Star, ...Stormtroopers' 9/11
More answers regarding did the Empire have a backup set of plans for the first Death Star?
Answer 2
This was covered in detail in this SFF Q&A. But in short, yes, the Scarif plans were likely NOT the only plans for Death Star - merely the one loaction that Erso Galen knew of and could point out in his message.
“I know there’s at least one complete engineering archive in the data vault at the Citadel Tower on Scarif. Use what I’ve told you, run the analysis, and you’ll be able to plan your attack. Any pressurized explosion to the reactor module will set off a chain reaction that will -”
(Official novelization, Chapter 6)Note the bolded text. "At least" implies that there are there are others.
This makes sense out of universe. There's never just one copy of important documents. Everything of importance has backups.
To cover your "fixed for Death Star II" point - additionally, we don't know if the reactor weakness was fixed in DS2. It wasn't destroyed the same way as DS1 - it was destroyed because the station wasn't finished and the fighters simply flew into it and actually blew up the reactor directly with weapons; as opposed to DS1 destruction caused by the Galen's flaw.
Answer 3
The key here is the word 'archive', I work in IT and typically this is just what it sounds like, a backup copy - they'll be other copies but that's where they keep their 'off-site' backups.
Answer 4
I'm not sure about the origin of the plans, because I did not finish the book about the Death Star yet. But! Other books cleared my opinion. Galen Erso finished almost done plans with some add-ons. So there is possibility that the plans from Scarif were not the only plans of the actual Death Star.
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