Hypermatter was a fuel for use in hyperdrives, and hypermatter reactions powered the Death Star's planet-killing superlaser. The main materials of hypermatter could be formed when solar radiation came into contact with the core of a planet, as was the case in the Redhurne system. Coaxium was a rare form of hypermatter.
The inner planets of the Redhurne system cracked open, exposing their cores to the toxic rays of the Redhurne star, which transmuted the cores into exotic new materials that could be used as the building blocks for hypermatter. These materials were collected from the planetary cores by mining droids for the Galactic Empire. A rare form of hypermatter was coaxium, which was used in hyperdrives to enable hyperspace travel for starships.
The Death Star contained a hypermatter annihilation reactor as one of the subsystems of the battle station's reactor core. Galen Erso's team proposed the use of a , intended to help reduce the recharge time of the superlaser and prevent radiation buildup that caused interference with the hypermatter annihilator. The proposed modification was not approved by Shaith Vodran. When completed, the Death Star transformed and focused its raw hypermatter reactions into its superlaser, which was powerful enough to destroy an entire planet.
A hypermatter leak in a starship's radiation refractors could leave a trail of particles that could be found and followed. M2-M5, engineering droid of the 61st Mobile Infantry, warned that a hypermatter leak in the Thunderstrike could leave such a trail for Darth Vader to follow.
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