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A gyrocomputer was a type of positioning system used in navicomputers to locate a starship's location in the three-dimensional plane and assist the pilot in accurately steering it. One type of gyrocomputer was the AH 1701, which was constructed by Incom Corporation and used on board the CEC YT-1300 light freighters' Microaxial Rubicon navicomputers.
Description
Gyrocomputers were cubic devices used for spaceflight navigation. They typically consisted of at least three control momentum gyroscopes (CMG)s positioned at right angles to one another inside a frame, which in turn was fixed parallel to the starship's horizontal plane—determined based on a planet's magnetic field and the telemetry received from a galactic network of positioning beacons. Once the horizontal baseline was established and the ship started maneuvering along either of its axes (pitch, roll and yaw), the CMG rotors, mounted on motorized gimbals, would tilt. As the rotors would naturally attempt to spin in the same plane as their baseline, their angular momentum would change, causing a measurable gyroscopic torque that could be used to accurately place the starship in the desired position.[1]
The data generated by the physical CMGs inside the gyrocomputer casing would be picked up by specialized sensors in its exterior and fed directly into the ship's navicomputer to be translated to starship movement. Despite this data being essential in helping establish a reference point in the three-dimensional realspace when in the absence of planetary terrain, most pilots were unaware of the gyrocomputer's existence, due its highly automated nature and lack of an actual interface.[1]
History
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Incom Corporation manufactured the AH 1701 gyrocomputer, which was considered to be one of the best available in the galactic market. Despite Incom supplying the AH 1701 to the Corellian Engineering Corporation for use on its YT-1300 light freighters' Microaxial Rubicon navicomputers, many considered the deal to be unethical, as it was in fact a questionable sub-contract that served only to make more profit for Incom's already wealthy executives.[1]
Behind the scenes
Gyrocomputers were mentioned in the current Star Wars canon in the twenty-fifth issue of De Agostini's Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine,[1] published around June 24, 2015.[2] Gyrocomputers originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, first appearing in the 2005 novel Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning, which was released as part of the Star Wars: The Dark Nest Trilogy.[3]
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 25 Secrets of Spaceflight: Gyrocomputers
- ↑ The second issue of the De Agostini weekly magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon was set to be published on January 14, 2015, according to
De Agostini Publishing: Build the Millennium Falcon Magazine & Model by Chris Wyman on TheForce.net (January 8, 2015) (backup link archived on November 6, 2016). Therefore, Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 25 was published around June 24, 2015.
- ↑ Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
