Rogue One Was Galen Erso taking a chance using "Stardust" as the code name for the Death Star plans?

When Jyn and Cassian were inside the data vault and Jyn was reading the various code names, she realized right away that the one for the Death Star was stardust. That's when Cassian asks how do know that, she responds by saying because it's me. I also know stardust was a name that Galen called her at various times during Rogue One.

However, do you think Galen took a huge chance by using stardust as the code name for the Death Star. What if at any point after she saw his message from Saw, Jyn was accidently killed before reaching the data vault. There is no way that Cassian would have known stardust was the correct file which had the plans.

 

True, but Galen didn’t even know if Jyn was still alive when he named it that. So as much as it could have been a clue for her, it was probably equally done to honor Jyn. Besides, he probably wouldn’t know what other name might be a better clue for someone else, if it ever even got to that point.

 

Even though it's true that Galen didn't know if Jyn was still alive when he made that message, why did he include the part about where to find the plans?

 

That part of the message was actually addressed to Saw too. After the part that was just for Jyn, if she was alive, Galen then “got back to business” by mentioning Saw’s name. So that info was for Saw, maybe Jyn, and anyone else Saw wanted to share it with.

 

If anything maybe Galen should have said if Jyn or anyone else who would attempt to steal the plans, that the code name for them was Stardust. That would have avoided questions from someone like Cassian asking how did she know that, because like I said before tells him "I know because it's me."

 

Actually, yeah… good point. Galen’s message should have included the project name, so the info could be more useful for whoever (Jyn, Saw, or someone else Saw shared it with) was attempting to carry out the plan.

 

Technically, the message got cut off. We don't ever hear Galen say "Well, that's it, that's the message, good luck!". Maybe Galen did include it but we just didn't hear that part of it.

 

I never took it as Galen naming it Stardust as a clue for Jyn. It was just something he called it in her honor. The name may have been included in the message that was cut off, we'll never know. Twas the will of the Force that Jyn received the message and Galen had named it Project Stardust, ensuring she woukd recognize her nickname as the right data file.

 

The hologram message was cut short by the explosion.

 

The last thing Galen said right before his message was cut off how the plans were in the data vault, at the citadel tower on Scarif, and how any pressurized expulsion to the reactor module will set off a chain reaction that would destroy the entire station.

Do you think he was going to say anything else like that Stardust was the code name for the data file to get the plans? If anything shouldn't that have been said earlier in his message?

 

Not really. I think it’s quite logical to present where the plans are (data vault in the Citadel tower on Scarif), and what’s in them that’s important (the vulnerable reactor module). Then present the details on how exactly to find them in the data vault (look for project Stardust in the data vault control room, etc). So it’s perfectly plausible that the necessary information was in the part of the message that went unheard.

 

Also given the personalized nature of the message for Jyn, it's possible that he wanted to end the message by telling her to look for Project Stardust. It's not like Galen knew that when the message was seen by Jyn that it would have been cut short and that there was going to be a very limited window for her to see it.

Saw might have seen whole the message before showing it to Jyn, but he wouldn't have known that his hideout was going to be destroyed in that exact moment and they would have to rush out before the message finished.

 

Using the nickname of his own child as a code word is very poor cybersecurity. And he had no numbers, no special symbols, and maybe not even upper and lower cases. The IT Security Department should have ripped him a new one.

 

No one from the Empire noticed how Galen made the design flaw on purpose in the Death Star that the Rebels used to destroy it. So, do you really think their IT Security Department would really have ripped him a new one, lol.

 

I think Sarge may have been joking.

 

I know he was joking. That's why I said lol at the end of my previous reply.

 

ISB was only concerned about open dissidents and not making sure Imperial facilities had worthwhile security checks to prevent people just waltzing in wearing an Imperial uniform(officers or stormtroopers).

 

This exemplifies the arrogance of the Empire at this stage and why Cassian, Jyn and the gang were able to pull it off. No holds barred. They had the set up plan to get in, find the data tapes and that they needed to be transmitted, but everything else was improvised.

What I always find muddled is the master switch and how they had to fond out where it is and how to turn it off/on.

 

I also thought that he might have named it Stardust not only to 'honor' Jyn, but also because of the secrecy of the project itself. The very existence of the DS was privileged information, even among the ranks of the Empire. In certain books and in the actual film R1, it's made clear the very existence of this base-even finished-was still a big secret. According to Darth Vader, even the senate had no idea of its existence.

I doubt he could've chosen such a simple, self-explanatory name like 'hyperspace tracking,' 'cluster prison,' or 'darksaber' - he couldn't just call it 'planet killer' or 'hyperlaser space station.' I wouldn't have been surprised if he was instructed to come up with some cryptic code name, perhaps by Krennic or Tarkin himself.

 

If questioned, Galen could have easily passed it off as what his project does to planets. It turns them to Stardust.......

 

I thought the most harrowing scene of all the Star Wars films was when Luke looked upon the burnt skeletal remains of his aunt and uncle, but now it is when Jyn Erso speaks to her father for the last time and he call her STARDUST...

 

Something similar happens in Sierra's adventure game Space Quest I from 1986. In a plot that's broadly a parody of Star Wars (along with many other sci-fi franchises), space janitor Roger Wilco has to prevent the evil Sariens from stealing a device called the Star Generator in order to blow up planets and conquer the galaxy.

Early on, the research ship that Roger is stationed aboard is under attack from the Sariens, and he has to retrieve the plans for the Star Generator before escaping. It turns out the plans are stored in the ship's library computer, under the codename "astral body".

I suspect this idea was borrowed for Rogue One by screenwriter Gary Whitta - who among other things was formerly editor-in-chief of PC Gamer magazine. (This also explains why Jyn Erso is named for Jan Ors from Dark Forces.) So Sierra's Star Wars riffs in Space Quest went full circle and themselves influenced mainline SW.