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Why was the Death Star's shield generator on Endor?


Isn't the point of the Death Star that you can use its lasers to destroy any planet or capital ship nearby? Then how could the Empire use the Death Star if it has to stay close to Endor at all times, because its shield generator is there? It seems that the Rebels just need to wait for the Death Star to move away from Endor and render itself vulnerable.



Answer



The shield generator was temporary protection while the second Death Star was under construction.


Both Death Stars had built-in shield generators to protect against enemy capital ships but starfighters were not considered a threat in the design of the first Death Star. The first Death Star therefore had a vulnerability in an exposed thermal exhaust port which Rebel starfighters with proton torpedoes exploited in order to destroy it. This vulnerability was fixed in the design of the second -- the large thermal exhaust port was replaced with numerous smaller ports. Once fully constructed the second Death Star would theoretically be invulnerable to both capital ships (due to the built-in shield generators) and starfighters (which would not be able to launch proton torpedoes into a large thermal exhaust port as they did with the first Death Star).


However, the second Death Star was still vulnerable while its internal structure was exposed during construction:


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Starfighters would be able to fly into the incomplete superstructure of the second Death Star unless protected by a shield generator (which the Rebels did at the Battle of Endor). The built-in shield generators of the Death Star were evidently not complete, so the Empire built a shield generator on the forest moon of Endor to protect the Death Star until construction was complete.


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