When Did the Second Death Star Begin Construction - Star Wars Explained

Were both Death Stars under construction at the same time? Will the second Death Star appear in Rogue One?

After my last video I got some comments suggesting the second Death Star began construction before the first was completed. In this video I'll lay out the evidence both for and against that argument.

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[prepperal]

1st Death Star was built in secret from the Senate. If Senate found out there would be all out rebellion as no world/species could allow this threat to exist. Death Star took so long to build as resources had to be siphoned off on small scale to avoid suspicion. Second death star built so quickly as Emperor dissolved senate. Gave power to regional governors and thus could divert whatever resources needed to build second death star so quickly.

[GonzoTehGreat]

Rogue One explains why the FIRST Death star took a lot longer than it should've to build.
Initially, Galen Urso didn't want it completed until he'd found a way to sabotage it, then later on, he needed to delay completion again, to buy time to introduce a design weakness without it being spotted. He also suspected that (to maintain secrecy) everyone involved in the project would be killed once the weapon was operational, so by delaying completion he was keeping his co-workers alive for as long as possible.

[purehevol]

as a kid i always thought that was the repaired original death star lol

[AlexeiRamotar]

First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price? - Hadden (Contact)

[WardyLion]

I'd wager that to create something like the Death Star for the first time would need a massive amount of infrastructure to be put in place before construction on the original Death Star could even begin, which could take a lot of time and effort. Plus there would have to be a huge amount of shakedown time to iron out the many bugs and glitches that such a massively complex construction would surely have.

When it comes to to second Death Star, the infrastructure is already in place, as is the knowledge gleaned from the shakedowns and trials run on the first one, vastly reducing the amount of time needed to get it built.

[skkyle]

Its easier to build something the second time. boom.

[TheVCRTimeMachine]

The second Death Star's construction began when George Lucas and Lawerence Kasdan decided that the original ROTJ script wasn't going to work.

[yurimyszkowski]

Well, in the last movie the second Death Star ISNT finished, after 4 years it was just a cask, we dont know for sure how many years they need to finish it completely

[eskall]

Alex. I just wanted to say that your content is so masterly put together. This video is one of many that proves both your love and gigantic knowledge of the Star Wars universe, but also your ability to transfer that knowledge via the internet. The structure of your content, the visual presentation, the sound quality (which unfortunately is overlooked by many youtubers) and the rate at which you put out your videos is just magnificent! Keep up the fantastic work, and I hope I get to meet you in person at Celebrations 2017

[jamiebraswell]

Rogue One made it clear that the Empire was having great difficulty in getting the weapon to work, hence why they went to find Galen Erso. Many years passed and Jynn grew up, so it took at least fifteen years for Galen to work through the issues, not to mention including a design flaw in time for it to be built into the superstructure. There is the reason for why the Death Star took 19 years to build. Death Star II already had the development out of the way and a basic plan for how to do it.

[harryjackson]

I just think George Lucas was in such a rush to write ep 6 he didn't think about the construction speed :/

[nobreyner]

20 years to build the station without the weapon being the focus. The second Death Star's weapon was the priority and the station was built around it. I think that's what 'made operational" meant.

[usswat]

About the Death Stars. In the beginning there must of had R&D time it took to test the Star wars super laser. That might explain why the first one took so long.

[CaptainGeronimo]

2'nd death star took 4 year to complete.. or for laser to become operational? 2'nd death star wasnt finished as structure

[ariesstorm]

What if the Emperor secretly commissioned the second Death Star before the completion and destruction of the first because he foresaw the possibility that Tarkin and the other high ranking officers would use the first Death Star to destroy Palpatine and Vader, maybe even Coruscant itself. With the improved second Death Star the Emperor could destroy the other with all the ambitious moffs in one swoop. Palpatine has no qualms about killing thousands of innocent loyal soldiers to kill one man nor would he care much for the cost. In my personal opinion, I think the second was being constructed during the events of A New Hope.
Or another way to look at this topic is "what was happening on Endor four years before the destruction of the second Death Star?"

[guacamole]

When I was a child around 8 or 9 in mid 90's I always assumed the death stars where the same one, 2 just being the remains of the 1st explosion made sense to me rather in episode 6 seeing a new unfinished station I just looked at it as the damaged one from episode 4, I mean even though the explosion of the 1st was so massive things explode all the time and only receive 20-30% damage. All made sense, It wasn't for like 5ish years until I was a teenager I found out they where 2 separate ones. I mean If you had a mostly working shell after episode 4 would make sense the first priority get the laser working again, then get it air tight and moveable. All made sense down to the damaged or rather unfinished look of it in episode 6.

[darthsavage]

"Yo, we just spent gazillions of credits building a tomb for millions of our followers because of a design flaw... what's our next move?"
"Let's build another one!"

[Britton_Thompson]

I don't have any Star Wars canon material to base this statement upon, but I can offer you tons of real world context. A 4 year construction timeline for the Death Star II is not only plausible, but likely.

Compare the Death Star's construction to other top secret govt projects such as the atomic bomb, aircraft carrier, satellite, and the space shuttle. The hardest part is always successfully building the original. First, multiple designs have to be submitted, prototypes have to be selected, funding secured, and the labor force secretly raised in such a way that it doesn't take away from the standing military enlistment numbers. You don't want to tip off enemies that something big is happening behind the scenes. No, you want to keep them thinking nothing is out of the ordinary. It always takes time, and a certain amount of creativity to secretly move your assets around.

Next, solving the construction hurdles in the process which goes from blueprint to prototype to finished product is where the difficulty really lies. With the first Death Star already completed, the experimental science projects required to build such a structure have already been conducted; the materials to be used determined; and the most efficient building methods identified. Now, all you have to do is rebuild the new one using only the successful construction techniques you established during construction of the first one. This phase here is where the most ground is always gained because you're no longer wasting time experimenting with various aspects of construction and can instead go straight to using what you know works.

It took the USA's Manhattan Project over three years to build the first successful atomic bomb, and a few weeks to finish the 2nd one. It took the Nazis 7 years to build the first successful ICBM rocket, and 6 weeks to amass a considerable stockpile. You get the idea. I hope this explanation clarifies things for you....

[purefoldnz]

They had a special: order one Death Star and get one half price.

[swaggerog]

palpatine didn't even finish paying off the first death star
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