Stardust plan The Stardust plan was a proposed and semi - successfully implemented way for the New Republic Defense Fleet to locate , disable , and study Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s cloaked asteroids in hazardous orbit over Coruscant . Need for the plan . During the " Siege of Coruscant " nine years after the battle of Yavin , Thrawn ' s forces dropped cloaked asteroids into the Galactic Capital ' s orbit . Accompanied by blank firings of the tractor beams , twenty - two asteroids were dropped from the hangars of the Star Destroyers " Chimaera " , " Death ' s Head " , and at least one other ship ( though with " Chimaera " only able to produce seventy - two of the two hundred eighty - seven firings , it is probable that at least four Star Destroyers participated ) . One of the asteroids was able to impact and do severe damage to the frigate " Evanrue " before Thrawn ordered the remainder of the recycled astrological object destroyed . The brief moments while the asteroid was uncloaked before its destruction were the New Republic ' s only clue as to what had come from the Imperial ships ' hangars . Because the controllers on the ground had recorded the twenty - two actual firings and as well as the two hundred sixty - five false firings , Coruscant became effectively a quarantine zone . The planetary shields would not be lowered except in absolute need , to keep the asteroids from falling from orbit and damaging the planet ' s surface or killing its inhabitants . Stardust implemented . In an effort to remove the very dangerous nuisances from orbit , Generals Garm Bel Iblis and Carlist Rieekan worked with Admiral Hiram Drayson to locate the objects . Being completely unable to track their paths from the original launch points , the officers sent several transports , including the " Dreadnaught " - class heavy cruiser " Harrier " to drop dust particles in the vicinity of the asteroids in Coruscant space . Firing negative ion beams into the field of dust , and careful not to carve exhaust grooves through the particles , the ships charged the dust . This caused all the particles to have the same polarity , and they repelled each other . The sensors looked for turbulence that the visual displays and the eyes alone could not detect . After three drops and charging of the dust particles , the forces were able to locate and disable one asteroid . The cloaking field collapsed , but before the asteroid could be collected and studied , it self - destructed . Thrawn did not want his technology distributed and studied . Asteroids destroyed . Unknown completion . The Stardust plan was continued in the weeks that followed and twenty more asteroids were destroyed . Between the twenty - one asteroids the New Republic had located and the one that Thrawn ordered destroyed during the battle , all of the astrological obstructions had been removed . But the New Republic was completely unaware of their accomplishment . Because of the false firings , the fleet continued to look for what it believed to be nearly three hundred more asteroids in orbit . Success revealed . Finally , when Talon Karrde arrived to speak with Mara Jade , imprisoned on the surface , he was able to reveal the purpose of the plot and the success of the Stardust plan to Leia Organa Solo and Garm Bel Iblis . He and the " Wild Karrde " had been at Bilbringi and captured footage of the twenty - two asteroids undergoing cloak installation . Although they had been unaware of their purpose at the time , Karrde was able to deduce the Empire ' s aim . Iblis and Karrde concluded that since Thrawn would not want to spread out his secret technology , only those twenty - two asteroids had been involved in the plan .