Why can't star destroyers enter atmosphere?

I know Vics can but why can't others do it?

 

Too big? They get unstable?

 

I have no proof. But my best guess is that they don't equip enough or any repulsors to lift them from planet surface. Remember how Lusankya is lifted from Coruscant with all those repulsors? So my theory is that they can enter atmosphere, but they can't escape planetary gravity.

BTW, I seems to remember that in Farlander Papers, Tarkin lands an ISD directly on a city ?

 

Because they're so frickin huge. Their engines are not up to the task of fighting against planetary gravity.

 

Yes I to remember Tarkin landing on a city or something. It was how Palps noticed Tarkin. But as far as the ship leaving the planet I don't have a clue if it did or not.

 

It really has to do with why you would need to...

Is it really neccessary to land a ship as big as a small city when you can just land several assault vessels more securely.

I believe that it is possible for an ISD to enter atmosphere...in fact one of my favorite artist renderings is of the Star Destroyer breaking through the clouds of a planet.

Landing skids would be a difficult problem for the battleships...they aren't designed with a flat bottom, so landing gear of different sizes would have to be used all over the ship to support the weight, and THAT is a lot of room to take up.

Another problem would be pressure and weather...regardless of how well built the SD maybe, rain, moisture, winds, air pressure...especially on something that big would do nightmares to the hull (the pressure of escaping to orbit would be tremendous.

Another problem...where are you going to land something that big? With the exception of a couple of massive landing fields on Coruscant, what planet would have a location large and flat, with Adequate resources to outfit and prep it for return to orbit.

In conclusion, the SD was design for the very purpose of not having to land...it is a mobile platform of the Emperor's will (the greatest being those clumsy Death Stars).

Why land your ISD when you can subjugate and supply your ship from the stars above?

 

They don't have repulsors in them or steering vanes like VSDs.

 

Because it would be pointless! They can attack from space, and any transfers can take on shuttles and smaller vessels which are much faster.

 

They are too big, and too heavy. Their repulsor lift's are not strong enough.

But, In Michael Stackpole's Krytos Trap, the Lusankya took off from Corescant. That's because it was heavily modified with stronger and more Repulsor's

 

Yes I to remember Tarkin landing on a city or something. It was how Palps noticed Tarkin

Some people would ask for an apointment to get attention, but Tarkin just had to go further...

 

JEDI-SOLO,
That was the Ghorman Massacre and it was a shuttle that Tarkin landed on demonstrators, not a Star Destroyer.

And, btw,
Star Destroyers can enter atmospheres. It's not like they instantly dissolve when they hit them or anything. However, you may not want to be on one or anywhere near the vicinity when it does enter.

 

Sorry I just remeber it was a ship.

 

Didn't Luke and Lando accidentally crash a ISD on Coruscant?

 

Dark Empire - and it wasn't accidental.

 

They can however...

Physics Class 101:
They were not designed to do it and take a great chance of wrecking the ship if they do. As pointed out earlier, the ISD would have to exert an enormous amount of power to resist a planets gravity - keeping in mind that not all planets have the same gravities.

Secondly, they were never designed to deal with the stress of entering/exiting an atmosphere.

But that being said, an ISD is pretty much the biggest badest mo'fo on the block, and they can usually do whatever they feel like doing. Just not without unnecessary risk.

 

I've always imagined the Executor hovering over Cloud City in an effort to quickly *pursuade* Lando to cooperate.

For that to work, SD's have to handle at least planetary atmosphere, if not an actual landing.

 

In Dark Empire 2 the star destroyer Invicible enters the atmosphere of Nar Shaddaa. It does crash into the surface, but this has nothing to do with the fact that it entered the atmosphere.

 

"They can certainly use replusors and ion engines to escape from the gravity. I believe their top speed was .4c. That is quite fast."
But as stated above. There is no reason for ISDs and SSDs to equip all those repulsors to resist plantary gravity. And it's acceleration that counts when escape plante surface.

 

They can enter planetary atmosphere. It's just that they have a tough time getting out.

 

The question was why can't Star Destroyers enter atmosphere, not why can't they land.

Star Destroyers can enter atmosphere, just that they'd burn up, as GrandAdmiralJello said. The way to enter atmosphere without committing suicide is with atmospheric maneuvering repulsors. To outfit something like an Imperial Star Destroyer with all those repulsors would make the ship too expensive to satisfy its role as the Empire's mainstay core warship. That's why only the Victory I-class Star Destroyers and the SSD Lusankya has such atmospheric equipment.

Being able to attack from atmosphere rather than orbit is actually quite beneficial. As the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels puts it, the Vic's ability to enter atmosphere gives it a "decisive tactical and psychological advantage." But hey - that's what ground assaults are for. Using orbital bombardments to take over planetary surfaces is a cheesy - not to mention ineffective - way anyhow.

 

Note this is rather interesting, vader prepared to take the executor into the atmosphere:

[image=http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/comics/marvel/63descent.jpg]

 

Did he actually go ahead and land the ship, though?

 

No, because luke had already escaped and at that point there was no reason to land.