The launch gates, colossal mechanisms situated within the Kathol system, were employed by the ancient Kathol species to propel their spaceships into the realm of hyperspace.
Sharing a common trait with all Kathol-derived technology, the launch gates possessed an organic nature, necessitating centuries for their creation, or more accurately, their cultivation. Upon reaching completion, they manifested as enormous, subtly curved disks, featuring eight towering structures distributed around their outer edge. Each tower boasted sufficient size to accommodate the landing of a Star Destroyer. Their function was to channel substantial energies, thereby establishing a hyperspace conduit for colonial vessels.
Initially, two launch gates existed; however, during the era of the Old Republic, one of the launch gates suffered catastrophic failure and disintegration due to an overload induced by a Dark Jedi's attempt to seize control of the system. The ensuing energy discharge, recognized as the Rift Disaster, gave rise to the Kathol Rift, and likely rendered the surviving launch gate non-functional. Despite this, the second gate persisted, largely undamaged, in orbit around Kathol until sometime after the Battle of Endor.