Where is the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star?

[Who is like God arbour]

Hello, I have a question:

Where is the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star?

Is it on the wall or on the bottom at the end of the trench?

I can't ascertain it.

The target computer and the first part of the briefing indicate, that it is on the wall at the end of the trench.

But in the second part of the briefing, there is a simplified animation, in which a fighter "drops" a bomb/torpedo to the bottom of the trench and it goes down to the reactor core.

The flight paths of the torpedos seems to bend at the exhaust port.

But Luke has fired his torpedos without a target computer. I think, that means, that the torpedos schould fly only straight on. They shouldn't be able to manoeuvre or change their courses. After all, without the target computer, the torpedos couldn't have known their intended target, could they?

But he has fired the torpedos parallel to the bottom of the trench. Than, they should hit a point at the wall and not at the bottom of the trench, shouldn't they?

I think, it is logical to assume, that the the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star is at the wall at the end of the trench.

If it were on the bottom, there would be no need to manoeuvre straight down this trench. They could have fired the torpedos from above the trench.

SOME SCREENSHOTS FROM THE BRIEFING, THE TARGET COMPUTER AND THE TORPEDO FLIGHT

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

I noticed that too a while ago, and I still maintain that the only explanation that fits all the data is a bank shot off of something on the far wall or a shield of something into the shaft.

[Kazeite]

I think that torpedoes were programmed to turn downward after being fired and then mantain the trajectory. The only thing pilots needed to do was to fire them at the precise moment, not too late, and not too early, so they would be able to fit into the exhaust port.

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

The torpedos also have to move sideways slightly to get into the exhaust post rather than hit the lip. Then there's the fact that the torpedos have to completely counter act their forward movement so they don't hit the inside of the shaft a few meters down. Preprogramming these would things would be very hard. It would be easier to build onboard navigation and sensor systems.

[Who is like God arbour]

I think that torpedoes were programmed to turn downward after being fired and then mantain the trajectory. The only thing pilots needed to do was to fire them at the precise moment, not too late, and not too early, so they would be able to fit into the exhaust port.

If the torpedoes were programmed to turn downward after being fired and then mantain the trajectory, the pilots would have to fire the torpedos at an exact poistion in relation to the thermal exhaust port. Otherwise the torpedos would have hit only the surface around it.

But one has to consider the velocity with which the fighters flew above the ground. And the target was only 2 meters wide. The pilots would only have a split second to fire their torpedos.

That would be very difficult if not impossible for an human being.

It would be by far easier to fire that torpedo from above the thermal exhaust port in a direct approach in line with the shaft.

[Dragoon]

God Arbour is right. If it was on the bottom of the shaft, wouldn't it be easier to dive in on it with your torpedoes rather then flying down a trench full of turbolasers, with no room to manucer?

[Kazeite]

Well, wasn't the impossibility of that shot mentioned in the very movie? :)

And the reason why they weren't firing torpedoes from abocve exhaust port had something to do with the anti-aircraft fire.

Well, I'm not entirely convinced myself, but, it is some kind of explanation :)

[Praeothmin]

And the reason why they weren't firing torpedoes from abocve exhaust port had something to do with the anti-aircraft fire.

The problem is, there was also anti-spacecraft fire in the trench.

The difference being, you had a lot more place to maneuver if you wanted to evade fire while not in the trench.

IMO, it would have been a lot more logical to fire the torpedoes from above, as Dragoon and God Arbour said.

[Who is like God arbour]

Well, wasn't the impossibility of that shot mentioned in the very movie? :)

And the reason why they weren't firing torpedoes from abocve exhaust port had something to do with the anti-aircraft fire.

Well, I'm not entirely convinced myself, but, it is some kind of explanation :)

It is some kind of explanation, but I'm not convinced.

In the whole attack, I haven't seen that strong "anti-aircraft fire".

I think, it was a greater risk to manoeuvre through the small trench, in which turbolasers was installed too, than to come from above with enough room to manoeuvre. After all, the fighter have to come from above too, to enter the trench at all.

[Gandalf]

The in universe answer is that they would have been exposed to an entire hemisphere's worth of defensive fire from the Death Star while making the attack. The out of universe answer is that George Lucas wanted to recreate the Dambuster run.

[Who is like God arbour]

The in universe answer is that they would have been exposed to an entire hemisphere's worth of defensive fire from the Death Star while making the attack. The out of universe answer is that George Lucas wanted to recreate the Dambuster run.

The out of universe answer is irrelevant.

Your in universe answer is not convincing.

The fighters have approached the death star and not one single turbo laser has fired until the fighter have almost tangent to the surface.

Every time, there is a fighter shown in a higher altitude above the surface, there are no turbo laser bolts.

Only when the fighters were near the surface, there was turbo laser bolts to be seen.

It seems, that an altitude of some kilometers is enough to be out of range of the turbo lasers.

If the thermal exhaust port was on the bottom of the trench, they could have dived in on it and fired their torpedos at an altitude of some kilometers, where they would still be out of range of the turbo lasers.

I think, I can expect, that a torpedo of such an modern civilisation would be able to hit a two meters wide target when fired from 10 kilometers away but in a straight line from direct above. That is not an overly difficult task.

[Dragoon]

I think both sides have a convincing arguement in this case. Although, from what we've seen the guns in the trench are oriented to fire straight down it, not up. However, this does not preclude the possibility of guns oriented to fire on diving targets or ones that can be reoriented.

[Praeothmin]

The out of universe answer is that George Lucas wanted to recreate the Dambuster run.

Was that the one from the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"?

The in universe answer is that they would have been exposed to an entire hemisphere's worth of defensive fire from the Death Star while making the attack

Well, judging from the visuals, they weren't under that much fire while skimming the surface, and as I said earlier, they would have had better evading maneuverability out of the trenches, IMO.

Although, from what we've seen the guns in the trench are oriented to fire straight down it, not up. However, this does not preclude the possibility of guns oriented to fire on diving targets or ones that can be reoriented.

Well, they were under fire from the turrets when they were near the surface, but the fact that the trench turrets seemd more numerous is probably due to the fact that they were all shooting in the same direction...

[Dragoon]

"dambuster" refers to an actual air attack against a German hydroelectric dam in World War II...Which was dramatized in this movie:

Linky Linky

The actual attack was called Operation Chastise.

[Praeothmin]

As you can see, I know war movies like the back of my hand...
*looks down*
Hey, where's my hand?...

:)