<P> The grid plan animations shown during the Rebel briefing for the attack on the Death Star late in A New Hope were an actual computer graphics simulation from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory made by Larry Cuba and Gary Imhoff as part of a CalArts project, and had been included during filming . </P> <P> These are depictions of the Death Star and other similar weapons of mass destruction within the Star Wars canon . </P> <P> The original Death Star's completed form appears in Star Wars, known officially as the DS - 1 Orbital Battle Station, or Project Stardust in Rogue One . Commanded by Governor Tarkin, it is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon", a huge spherical space station over 100 kilometers in diameter capable of destroying a planet with one shot of its superlaser . The film opens with Princess Leia transporting the station's schematics to the Rebel Alliance to aid them in destroying the Death Star . Tarkin orders the Death Star to destroy Leia's home world of Alderaan in an attempt to press her into giving him the location of the secret Rebel base; she gives them the false location of Dantooine, but Tarkin has Alderaan destroyed anyway, as a demonstration of the Death Star's firepower and the Empire's resolve . Later, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi - Wan Kenobi, C - 3PO, and R2 - D2 are pulled aboard the station by a tractor beam, where they discover and manage to rescue Princess Leia . As they make their escape, Obi - Wan dies fighting Darth Vader, enabling the others to flee the station . Later, Luke returns as part of a fighter force to attack its only weak point: a ray - shielded particle exhaust vent leading straight from the surface directly into its reactor core . Luke was able to successfully launch his fighter's torpedoes into the vent, impacting the core and triggering a catastrophic explosion, which completely destroyed the station before it could use its superlaser weapon to annihilate its intended target, the rebel base on Yavin IV . </P> <P> The Clone Wars Legacy story reel from the unfinished Crystal Crisis on Utapau episodes revealed that the reason General Grievous was on Utapau in Revenge of the Sith was to acquire enormous kyber crystals, which were required to power the Death Star's superlaser . </P>

When does luke blow up the death star
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