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The Re-imagined Series thrives on its concentration on the story and the characters that develop it, rather than attempting to awe its audience and drive the story by futuristic technology. Nevertheless, Battlestar Galactica is still a science-fiction program. Its writers may choose to adhere with Einsteinian, Euclidian and Newtonian principles as we know them here on the real-world Earth when ships, characters, and events require a particular physical result in, say, a space battle, in a medical complication, or when traveling from place to place.

These series of articles summarize or notes information about scientific objects and events in the Miniseries and regular series and attempts to draw more information, cite problems or contradictions, or conclusions of the scientific principles revealed as part of the series' plot. In short, this article analyzes Battlestar Galactica's "technobabble" and determines how much of it is accurate, interesting, or just plain made-up.

This parent article discusses miscellaneous topics that are not covered in the available sub-articles.

Use of real scientific principles and methods[edit]

Galactica has an astrometrics lab that uses spectroscopy and optical telescopes to navigate through space and acquire data for FTL computations. This is an example of not using "magical" sensors to get information, even though a spectroscope technically has an optical sensor. Furthermore, spectrograms can sometimes be seen in Raptors, such as when Boomer and Crashdown survey planetary systems in search of water ^{(TRS: "Water")}.

Baltar notes the use of carbon nanotubes in his Cylon detector. Although it is possible that he is just making it up to obtain the nuclear warhead, this implies that the Colonials have extensive knowledge about and practical applications for this technology ^{(TRS: "Bastille Day")}.

Colonel Tigh mentions synchrotron radiation in "Maelstrom". While this sounds like technobabble at first glance, it is actually a real phenomenon possible in gas giants, due to their immense magnetic fields.

Electromagnetic pulses are mentioned on at least two occasions to be generated by nuclear weapons detonated in space (TRS: Miniseries, "Pegasus"). While nuclear weapons exploding very high in atmospheres or in low planetary orbit produce such a pulse, this would not occur in open space (see the EMP article for the explanation). However, the gamma-ray emissions of the detonation alone could still be sufficient to blind the DRADIS as noted and shown in the episodes.

Admiral Adama mentions wormholes and dark matter in "Sacrifice". While dark matter is only a theory today, and only inferred by mass discrepancies in observed galaxies, it is apparently a proven phenomenon to the Colonials. In the same episode Sharon Valerii warns of pulsars interfering with the DRADIS. Pulsars give off large amounts of electromagnetic radiation, albeit very directional.

Why Gaeta will never be "Spock"[edit]

The writers intentionally avoid characters discussing any super-technical particulars in depth. This is logical in that, if the characters know that they can or cannot reach a particular location (they can see their own displays), there's no practical reason for the characters to discuss it amongst themselves (and therefore to us); it would be meaningless dialogue in a show that is heavily supported by the personalities of the characters (and is limited in time to tell viewers a story).

The irascible Colonel Tigh would look at Lieutenant Gaeta as if he grew a third eye in his forehead if Gaeta started to spout off the precise distances and time necessary for Galactica to travel from place to place. Talking about such minutiae in this new Battlestar Galactica is just not in character.

Why doesn't Colonial Heavy 798 simply jump to Galactica?[edit]

In the Miniseries, Colonial Heavy 798 casually travels 5.5 hours at sublight speeds to get to Galactica. Why does the starliner take its time? Why don't they simply jump to Galactica to save time?

There are several possibilities.

Discomfort: FTL travel is a very disconcerting sensation to most humans. Even some trained military staff such as Cally hate the sensation caused by it. Starliners would likely rather not jump if they can help it, and probably explicitly warn travelers when they book an FTL flight.
Scheduling: Galactica's decommissioning ceremony is set for a specific time and date. While Intersun could have created an FTL flight, passengers still need time (mentally or physically) to prepare for their trip. As humans without instantaneous travel ability, viewers may not realize that such travel may create issues of logistics for passengers (many who are late or procrastinate) who actually anticipate that they will get 5 hours to plan for their event, or to just sleep.
Flight rules or protocol: It may be against Colonial flight protocols for any non-military vessel to jump to the adjoining space of a Colonial Fleet vessel. This makes the most sense because warships such as battlestars are always on the lookout for a sudden appearance of any ship that approaches them. If Colonial Heavy 798 were to jump straight to the battlestar, all kinds of alarms would go off in CIC until the battlestar could verify the incoming vessel is friendly. Given that terrorism existed in the Colonies, even a "friendly" vessel may not be necessarily be a "friendly".
Expense: The ships of the escaping survivors that make up Galactica's civilian Fleet use FTL travel frequently because they have to. There is little discussion of the economy or frequency of using FTL regularly before the Colonies were attacked.
Distance: There may be a minimum distance where using FTL can be considered practical. As seen in "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down," a (supposedly) damaged Raider is capable of making random jumps in such close proximity to each other that the CAP is able to intercept it again in a matter of seconds. The key point is that ships cannot perform many jumps in rapid succession; they need to take time to calculate a new jump and power up their FTL drives. During this time lag, a ship might be able to close the distance to its required destination simply by using its normal sublight engines. For example, during the Battle of the Resurrection Ship, most of the Cylon fleet's Raiders are lured away from their fleet, but they do not jump back to defend against the Colonials when the ruse is discovered. A possible explanation is that it would have actually taken less time to cover this distance at sublight than it would to perform jump calculations for several minutes, then jump.

Why hasn't Galactica jumped in over 20 years?[edit]

Before the attack, Galactica herself hadn't jumped for over 20 years, according to Saul Tigh ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}. Aside from the general reasons for not jumping about (see above), Galactica is a special case:

Galactica was among the oldest ships in the Colonial Fleet. In comparison to her modern sister battlestars, Galactica's un-refitted status may have made her woefully poor for modern battlestar training. Some Colonial Fleet staff may have also felt that Galactica's age and lack of advanced Colonial technology had deemed her not spaceworthy for regular jumping (as Saul Tigh appears to believe, training notwithstanding).

It's also likely that Galactica was also an historic vessel that few Colonial government politicians would care to lose to an FTL accident if they were defense spending proponents. Therefore, she may have been practically "dry-docked" around the vicinity of Caprica, still commissioned and regularly manned, but not considered an effective warship on normal patrol. Possibly, when the costs of running Galactica as a regular warship became too high, the idea of formally dry-docking the ship in orbit around Caprica, and turning her into a museum, is considered ^[1].

Another possibility would be to consider the purpose of a military vessel like Galactica while in times of peace. Her standing mission most likely involved patrolling Colonial space. It would not be practical or effective to jump from point to point when performing such a patrol.

Construction of the Blackbird[edit]

In his podcast for "Flight of the Phoenix," Ron D. Moore acknowledges the build-time dilemma for the Blackbird, and notes that the vagueness of time elapsed to build the machine was intentional so as to allow it to be built and done with in one episode, instead of drawing out the building into two or three episodes.

Some viewers may express confusion over the amount of time necessary to build the new fighter as well as the time it took to fight off the logic bomb and the Cylon attack. All in all, the whole episode may seem like a series of deus ex machina events to close up the episode.

To the episode's credit, it appears that several weeks' worth of time elapse in the episode. This might stretch believability in the fighter's construction, but not in the logic bomb crisis. It must be noted that the breakdown in morale has left many of the crew with very little to do that's worthwhile in their free time. A monumental task such as building a fighter may be relatively easy for a highly motivated, highly skilled, but highly bored group of people (as indicated by the near-cheerful disposition of the workers when Lee Adama and Tigh visit the fighter).

Further, the fighter is aided by specialists of particular fields in its construction--something that Tyrol hasn't the luxury of having while in combat situations. As such, he has more willing and able resources at his command to create the ship than during any Viper repair. The crew is also not under pressure to build the system rapidly; there are many contributors, and work such of this lead to a faster build time. It may also be presumed that the Viper design, of which the Blackbird is derived, may have a simple construction of avionics, crew pressure module, engines, and superstructure. These ships are designed for rapid repair and redeploy, so, aside from the Blackbird's initial framework, much of the ship would likely be similar to a Viper. Also, the Blackbird is likely built with more modern technology than that found in the older and harder-to-service Viper Mk. II fighters--the Blackbird is likely descended more from the advanced Mk. VII Viper, which Tyrol's crew is trained to understand and maintain, not the obsolete Viper Mk. II museum pieces.

It is also established in the episode that there are spare spacecraft parts available to Tyrol—at the beginning of the episode he marks a severely damaged Viper for scrap, and Colonel Tigh walks in on his still and informs him of some extra engines and other parts that another ship in the Fleet is trying to dispose of. Given the ability to cannibalize already built parts, the assembly of the Blackbird is not as great a task as building a Viper from scratch might be.

Lastly, the Colonials had built a stealth ship before. Some of Tyrol's crew may even have experience with stealth technology.

The problems of colonization[edit]

The harsh conditions in New Caprica City illustrate the difficulties of establishing a colony on a new planet, let alone one that is as inhospitable as New Caprica. These difficulties are greatly amplified by the small size of the surviving human population.

A small founding population is prone to the effects of inbreeding, but the historical example on Earth indicates that, with the proper regulation of consanguineous marriages, it should not be a problem for a city larger than a few hundred people^[2]. The population on New Caprica was drawn from the full Twelve Colonies so its initial genetic diversity should be high.

These factors will apply wherever the human population settles, assuming it does not find the Thirteenth Tribe with its existing population base. There is a reason it took Homo sapiens on Earth over 100,000 years to grow from a population of 50,000 to a global technological civilization: population size is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for economic development, because it allows for division of labor^[3]. The Colonials may be able to leapfrog because of their existing knowledge and skills, but judging from the History of the Twelve Colonies, it took the tribes leaving Kobol roughly 2,000 years to develop into an advanced civilization. One can argue that it would take the surviving human population an equivalent length of time to do the same---perhaps longer, given that their exodus was unplanned.

The humans will have to develop agriculture, industry, and infrastructure almost from scratch. In the time it takes them to do so, there will be a slow erosion of knowledge, as the original population with its memories of the Twelve Colonies dies off. It is quite likely that economic development would regress before it improves. Indeed, after less than two years, the humans have already exhausted their supply of medicines and have developed no way to manufacture more.

References[edit]

↑ The United States has a counterpart to what Galactica might have been or was to become: the USS Constitution--"Old Ironsides."
↑ See "Biological Dimensions of Small Human Founding Populations" by J.B. Birdsell in Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. University of California Press, 1985.
↑ See "The Division of Labor and Interstellar Migration" by William A. Hodges in Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. University of California Press, 1985.

[1] The United States has a counterpart to what Galactica might have been or was to become: the USS Constitution--"Old Ironsides."

[Birdsell-2] See "Biological Dimensions of Small Human Founding Populations" by J.B. Birdsell in Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. University of California Press, 1985.

[Hodges-3] See "The Division of Labor and Interstellar Migration" by William A. Hodges in Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. University of California Press, 1985.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]] thrives on its concentration on its story and the characters that develop it, rather than attempting to awe its audience and drive the story by futuristic technology. Nevertheless, ''Battlestar Galactica'' is still a science-fiction program. Its writers may choose to adhere with Einsteinian, Euclidian and Newtonian principles as we know them here on the real-world Earth when ships, characters, and events require a particular physical result in, say, a space battle, in a medical complication, or when travelling from place to place.
+{{RDM science series}}
-This article summarizes or notes information about scientific objects and events in the [[Miniseries]] and regular series and attempts to draw more information, cite problems or contraditions, or conclusions of the scientiic principles revealed as part of the series' plot. In short, this article analyzes ''Battlestar Galactica's'' "[[technobabble]]" and determines how much of it is accurate, interesting, or just plain made-up.
+The [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Re-imagined Series]] thrives on its concentration on the story and the characters that develop it, rather than attempting to awe its audience and drive the story by futuristic technology. Nevertheless, ''Battlestar Galactica'' is still a science-fiction program. Its writers may choose to adhere with Einsteinian, Euclidian and Newtonian principles as we know them here on the real-world Earth when ships, characters, and events require a particular physical result in, say, a space battle, in a medical complication, or when traveling from place to place.
-===Why Gaeta Will Never be "Spock"===
+These series of articles summarize or notes information about scientific objects and events in the [[Miniseries]] and regular series and attempts to draw more information, cite problems or contradictions, or conclusions of the scientific principles revealed as part of the series' plot. In short, this article analyzes ''Battlestar Galactica's'' "[[technobabble]]" and determines how much of it is accurate, interesting, or just plain made-up.
-The writers intentionally avoid characters discussing any super-technical particulars in depth in the Regular Series. This is logical in that, if the characters ''know'' that they can or cannot reach a particular location (they can see their own displays), there's no practical reason for the characters to discuss it amongst themselves (and therefore to us); it would be meaningless dialogue in a show that is heavily supported by the personalities of the characters (and is limited in time to tell viewers a story). The iracible Colonel [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] would look at Lieutenant [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] as if he grew a third eye in his forehead if Gaeta started to spout off the precise distances and time necessary for ''Galactica'' to travel from place to place. Talking about such minutae in ''BSG'' is just not in character.
+This parent article discusses miscellaneous topics that are not covered in the available sub-articles.
-Still, the show gives us clues about the solar system of the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]] to note some interesting facts.
+===Use of real scientific principles and methods===
-==Distances and Speeds in the Mini-Series==
+''Galactica'' has an [[astrometrics]] lab that uses [[w:Spectroscopy|spectroscopy]] and optical telescopes to navigate through space and acquire data for [[FTL]] computations. This is an example of not using "magical" sensors to get information, even though a spectroscope technically has an [[w:Sensor#Optical radiation|optical sensor]]. Furthermore, spectrograms can sometimes be seen in [[Raptor]]s, such as when Boomer and Crashdown survey planetary systems in search of water {{TRS|Water}}.
-* '''''Battlestar ''Galactica'' was approximately 335,540,340 miles from one of the Colonies, ostensibly [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)#Caprica|Caprica]], at the start of the [[Mini-Series]].'''''
+Baltar notes the use of [[w:Carbon nanotube|carbon nanotubes]] in his [[Cylon detector]]. Although it is possible that he is just making it up to obtain the nuclear warhead, this implies that the Colonials have extensive knowledge about and practical applications for this technology {{TRS|Bastille Day}}.
-:To reach this number, we needed clues from [[Billy Keikeya]], onboard ''[[Colonial Heavy 798]]'', enroute to the battlestar for its decommissioning ceremony. In the Mini-Series, Billy tells [[Laura Roslin]] that he had sent a copy of her ceremony speech to President [[Richard Adar|Adar]] for review, but warns that there is a time delay of 30 minutes between ''Galactica'' and (ostensibly) Adar's location. Adar's actual location was, indeed, Caprica City, which appeared be the seat of the Colonial [[Government]] {{ref|Jack}}.
+Colonel Tigh mentions [[synchrotron radiation]] in "[[Maelstrom]]". While this sounds like technobabble at first glance, it is actually a real phenomenon possible in gas giants, due to their immense magnetic fields.
-:We know that ''Battlestar Galactica's'' universe sticks to the same speed of light constant as real-world Earth (and the universe, of course): 186,282 miles per second. If President Adar sent a [[wireless]] message from Caprica to ''Galactica'' in an attempt to correct Roslin's speech, how long would it take the message to get there? Billy gives this answer: 30 minutes. This gives the answer we need if we use the equation that ''distance=speed x time'':
+[[EMP|Electromagnetic pulses]] are mentioned on at least two occasions to be generated by nuclear weapons detonated in space ([[TRS]]: [[Miniseries]], "[[Pegasus (Extended Version)|Pegasus]]"). While nuclear weapons exploding very high in atmospheres or in low planetary orbit produce such a pulse, this would not occur in open space (see the EMP article for the explanation). However, the gamma-ray emissions of the detonation alone could still be sufficient to blind the [[DRADIS]] as noted and shown in the episodes.
-:::(3 x 10^8) ''(the speed of light in meters/sec)'' x 1800 ''(number of seconds in 30 minutes)'' = 5.4 x 10^11 meters
+Admiral Adama mentions [[w:Wormholes|wormholes]] and [[w:Dark Matter|dark matter]] in "[[Sacrifice]]". While dark matter is only a theory today, and only inferred by mass discrepancies in observed galaxies, it is apparently a proven phenomenon to the Colonials. In the same episode [[Sharon Valerii]] warns of [[w:Pulsar|pulsars]] interfering with the DRADIS. Pulsars give off large amounts of electromagnetic radiation, albeit very directional.
-:Simplfied, the wireless message travels over 335.5 million miles in 30 minutes to ''Galactica.''  This is approximately 3.5 astronomical units, or three times the distance between our Earth and our sun.
+===Why Gaeta will never be "Spock"===
-* '''''Colonial Heavy 798'' is travelling at a sublight speed of over 61,000,000 miles per hour to get to ''Galactica'' for the decommissioning ceremony.'''''
+The writers intentionally avoid characters discussing any super-technical particulars in depth. This is logical in that, if the characters ''know'' that they can or cannot reach a particular location (they can see their own displays), there's no practical reason for the characters to discuss it amongst themselves (and therefore to us); it would be meaningless dialogue in a show that is heavily supported by the personalities of the characters (and is limited in time to tell viewers a story).
-:Right after Billy Keikeya's conversation to Laura Roslin on her speech, we overhear the captain of ''Colonial Heavy 798'' on the public address intercom of the [[Intersun|starliner]], telling the passengers how long their trip to ''Galactica'' will take: 5.5 hours. Assuming that the starliner has just left the neighboring space of Caprica and has reached its cruising speed, and given that we know ''Galactica's'' distance from Caprica, we can determine ''Colonial Heavy 798's'' cruising speed with the same formula as above, now adjusted to calculate speed:
+The irascible Colonel [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]] would look at Lieutenant [[Felix Gaeta|Gaeta]] as if he grew a third eye in his forehead if Gaeta started to spout off the precise distances and time necessary for ''Galactica'' to travel from place to place. Talking about such minutiae in this new ''Battlestar Galactica'' is just not in character.
-:::540000000000 ''(the speed of light in meters/sec)'' / 19800 ''(the number of seconds in 5.5 hours)'' =
+===Why doesn't ''Colonial Heavy 798'' simply jump to ''Galactica''?===
-:::27272727.28 meters/sec, ''or'' 61, 009, 090 MPH
-:While ''Colonial Heavy 798'' is making a very serious clip across space at 61, 009, 090 miles per hour on its [[sublight]] engines, this is only approximately 11 percent of the speed of light, so passenger liners do well in getting from place to place, or colony to colony. To give a real-world comparison, ''Colonial Heavy 798'' could fly from our sun to the Earth in about 90 minutes. The light from the sun takes only 8 minutes to arrive on the Earth's surface.
+In the Miniseries, ''[[Colonial Heavy 798]]'' casually travels 5.5 hours at [[Navigation in the Re-imagined Series#Sublight propulsion|sublight speeds]] to get to ''Galactica.'' Why does the starliner take its time? Why don't they simply jump to ''Galactica'' to save time?
-==Artificial Gravity==
-''(Much of this topic is derived from information in an article on the subject on [[Wikipedia:Artificial Gravity|Wikipedia]]. Not all of ''Battlestar Wiki's'' contributors are rocket scientists.)''
-Of course, it's very practical for humans, who evolved in gravity, to have it aboard their ships. Cinematically, it also makes it much easier to keep production costs down by not having to simulate weightlessness.
-That doesn't mean we can let the [[Colonial Fleet]] get away with just having artificial gravity without some explanation, especially given [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron D. Moore]]'s [[Naturalistic science fiction|realistic science fiction]] principles of his show. From a science fiction perspective, this has always been the hardest "technology" to explain away in a show. Most shows don't even bother unless the temporary loss of artificial gravity would make a good plot complication.
-From what our scientists have theorized here on the real-world Earth, you can generate gravity from several ideas:
-* ''Rotation of the spacecraft'' to generate centrifugal forces within a spacecraft.
-:Remember the playground merry-go-rounds of your youth? Same principle. In fact, one of the [[The Fleet (RDM)|Fleet]]'s ships uses this form of artificial gravity when it feels like it: the [[Space Park]]. Viewers can get a good view of this ship in motion when the Fleet leaves [[Ragnar Anchorage]] in the Miniseries.
-* ''Keeping the ship at constant acceleration'', with the crew standing in the opposite direction of acceleration.
-:Same principle that every astronaut experiences as their rocket launches into space and accelerates. In this principle, you won't take your hands off the throttle, keeping the ship's engines on at all times.
-* ''Place something with a lot of mass'' within your ship.
-:This isn't artificial gravity, but the real thing. But there is the matter of the energies required to move your ship, the large gravity well that wants to attract other objects into your ship's general direction, and the shape of your ship. Gravity just '''works''', pulling from every direction, so you would need a round ship to keep from strange changes in gravity aboard a ship. Worst of all, the amount of fuel needed to move a ship with a local mass concentration would be really, really high.
-* ''Use tidal forces''.
-:Stretch a tether with a small mass between a large gravity source and the ship you want. Cheap, fuel-free, and reliable. There's the matter of actually being able to travel somewhere besides planetary orbit without losing gravity, however.
-* ''Fake gravity by using another classic force, magnetism''.
-:The big term for this is [[Wikipedia:Diamagnetism|diamagnetism]], or, more specificially for this application, ''diamagnetic levitation''. Based on the technologies we've seen in the Re-imagined Series (such as their use of magnetism for landing and launching Vipers){{ref|vipers}}, this principle has the most viability, but it also fraught with huge problems in application.
-:''Everything'' has a magnetic attraction, but most objects (a human body included) has so little magnetism that we don't really think about it. This principle could be used to force ''everything'' in a particular direction. But, first off, using magnets together usually makes objects ''float'' between them, not drop, so you have to figure out how to angle things for the proper effect. Scientists here on Earth have actually [http://www.hfml.science.ru.nl/levitate.html levitated a frog at a force of 1''g'' ] (Earth's gravity), but it took a massive amount of cryogeneically frozen hardware to do it, and that was using the magnet to push ''away'' from Earth's gravity, not push the object ''down''. Also, high magnetic field concentrations [http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~jrs/safety/magnetic.html are probably not very healthy]] in the long term.
-If the writers have to dive back into the old fictionalized bag of tricks, you could consider these fanciful notions for keeping your deck crews on the deck:
-* ''Use rotational gravity.''
-:This variation of centrifugal gravity generation has been done in the movie ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (the crew compartment inside the ''Discovery'' spun) and the venerable TV show "[[Wikipedia:Babylon 5|Babylon 5]]" (the cylindrical space station spun on its longitudinal axis).
-* ''Simulate gravity with force fields.''
-:The central spaceship in the TV show "[[Wikipedia:Andromeda|Andromeda]]" uses "gravity generators". The "Star Trek" saga has a similar idea. This concept seems also to be a slap in the face of realistic SF concepts since it's a completely fanciful concept with no basis in scientific plausibilty at present.
-* ''Spacetime manipulation.''
-:The ability to do [[FTL|Faster Than Light travel]] indicates the Colonials have the advanced technology to manipulate the fabric of spacetime.  This same ability might be harnessed to provide artificial gravitation. However, the connection between the use of ''Galactica's'' FTL drives (which are inactive until "spun up") makes this idea inconsistent with story elements where the FTL drives must be prepped before using. Also, this idea is also fanciful in its basis in known scientific fact or theory.
-So, there are no definitive answers to the issue of what comes up and must come down in ''Battlestar'', and the concept of artificial gravity in the show has yet to be explained anytime soon by the writers. Maybe a Raptor will lose their gravity on a mission one day in an episode, and the writers will have to have the characters [[Frak|curse]] about the issue.
-==Light-speed Travel==
-The good news is that, from a theoretical point of view, the Re-imagined Series has this covered well by the use of ''wormhole'' theory, instead of grandiose methods such as in "Star Trek", through the use of fantastic energies. For more detail on how '''Jumps''' work and how the Colonial's manner of apparent faster-than-light travel differs from the more fanciful non-Einsteinian "warp drive" technology in "Star Trek", see the article on [[FTL|Faster Than Light travel.]]
-===Why Didn't ''Colonial Heavy 798'' simply Jump to ''Galactica''?===
-In the Miniseries, the starliner known as ''Colonial Heavy 798'' casually traveled 5.5 hours at sublight speeds to get to battlestar ''Galactica.'' Why did the starliner take its sweet time? Why didn't they simply Jump to ''Galactica'' to save time?
 There are several possibilities.
-* '''Discomfort.''' [[FTL]] travel is a very disconcerting sensation to most humans. Even trained military staff such as [[Cally]] hated the sensation caused by wormhole travel. And, if the Colonies are full of lawyers as the real-world Earth is, think of the litigation created by people who aren't prepared for Jumping, and sue the starliners. Starliners would rather not Jump if they can help it, and probably explicitly warn travelers when they book a Jumping flight.
+* '''Discomfort:''' FTL travel is a very disconcerting sensation to most humans. Even some trained military staff such as [[Cally]] hate the sensation caused by it. Starliners would likely rather not jump if they can help it, and probably explicitly warn travelers when they book an FTL flight.
-* '''Scheduling.''' ''Galactica's'' decommissioning ceremonies were for a specific time and date. While [[Intersun]] could have created an FTL flight, passengers still need time (mentally or physically) to prepare for their trip. As humans without instantaneous travel ability, we may not realize that such travel may create issues of logistics for passengers (many who are late or procrastinate) who actually ''anticipate'' that they will get 5 hours to plan for their event, or to just sleep.
+* '''Scheduling:''' ''Galactica''{{'|s}} decommissioning ceremony is set for a specific time and date. While [[Intersun]] could have created an FTL flight, passengers still need time (mentally or physically) to prepare for their trip. As humans without instantaneous travel ability, viewers may not realize that such travel may create issues of logistics for passengers (many who are late or procrastinate) who actually ''anticipate'' that they will get 5 hours to plan for their event, or to just sleep.
-* '''Flight rules or protocol.''' It may be against Colonial flight protocols for any non-military vessel to Jump to the adjoining space of a Colonial Fleet vessel. This makes the most sense because ships such as battlestars are ''always'' on the lookout for a sudden appearance of any ship that approaches them; they ''are'' a warship, after all. An incident where Vipers are scrambled from a battlestar after a civilian ship Jumps too closely would be like a Lear Jet flying too closely to a United States aircraft carrier. If ''Colonial Heavy 798'' were to Jump straight to the battlestar, all kinds of alarms would go off in [[CIC]] until the battlestar could verify the incoming vessel was friendly. And, given that [[Tom Zarek|terrorism existed]] in the Colonies, even a "friendly" vessel may not be necessarily be a "friendly" (remember the events of September 11, 2001, where passenger airliners were used in the attack).
+* '''Flight rules or protocol:''' It may be against Colonial flight protocols for any non-military vessel to jump to the adjoining space of a Colonial Fleet vessel. This makes the most sense because warships such as battlestars are ''always'' on the lookout for a sudden appearance of any ship that approaches them. If ''Colonial Heavy 798'' were to jump straight to the battlestar, all kinds of alarms would go off in [[CIC]] until the battlestar could verify the incoming vessel is friendly. Given that [[Tom Zarek|terrorism existed]] in the Colonies, even a "friendly" vessel may not be necessarily be a "friendly".
-* '''Expense.''' The ships of the Fleet use FTL travel frequently because they have to. There's little discussion of the possible economic reprecussions of doing so, but given how rarely FTL travel seemed to be used in the Colonies (indicated by the fact that ''Galactica'' herself hadn't jumped for 20 years as of the miniseries), it seems as though it might be very expensive, or at least inefficient.
+* '''Expense:''' The ships of the escaping survivors that make up ''Galactica''{{'|s}} civilian Fleet use FTL travel frequently because they have to. There is little discussion of the  economy or frequency of using FTL regularly before the Colonies were attacked.
+* '''Distance:''' There may be a minimum distance where using FTL can be considered practical.  As seen in "[[Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down]]," a (supposedly) damaged Raider is capable of making random jumps in such close proximity to each other that the [[Combat Air Patrol|CAP]] is able to intercept it again in a matter of seconds.  The key point is that ships cannot perform many jumps in rapid succession; they need to take time to calculate a new jump and power up their FTL drives. During this time lag, a ship might be able to close the distance to its required destination simply by using its normal sublight engines.  For example, during the [[Battle of the Resurrection Ship]], most of the Cylon fleet's Raiders are lured away from their fleet, but they do not jump back to defend against the Colonials when the ruse is discovered.  A possible explanation is that it would have actually taken ''less'' time to cover this distance at sublight than it would to perform jump calculations for several minutes, then jump.
-==The Tylium Question==
-[[Tylium]] is a curious substance in the universe where the Twelve Colonies resides. Used by both Colonials and their foes, tylium has the properties of a mineral or fossil fuel in as that the substance is mined and refined. Like some fossil fuels, tylium isn't useable until refined. While the ore can't be detonated, its precursor (similar to refined crude oil before its refinement into gasoline and other products) is very explosive. The fuel itself isn't as explosive as precursor, however.
-So, is tylium a made-up substance or would it have a counterpart or comparative substance to the elements we know of here on the real-world Earth?
-One speculation is that tylium can possibly be similar to Helium-3{{ref|helium3}}. Helium-3 is a primordial component in the Earth's crust, is deposited via solar wind on moons and asteroids. But, while helium-3 has potention as an energy source, the amount of energy needed to ignite it (fusion) would be more than the energy it would expel for use as an energy by-product.
-There is a problem with this speculation in that helium-3 is a gas, not a mineral or solid element. A tylium counterpart should be a solid, non-radioactive, and likely non-organic substance. Coal would fit the tylium concept were it not a fossil fuel, which would suggest that life forms existed and died on the celestial bodies where the substance is mined. Perhaps another element from the Periodic Table could be a counterpart of tylium.
-==The Cancer Cure of Laura Roslin==
-''This section was originally written from a layman's perspective. As such, the information in this section is speculative and with little professional background. Battlestar Wikipedians with more experience and training in biology, medical science, and genetics are strongly encouraged to correct and expand on this section.''
-The episode "[[Epiphanies]]" showed dying President [[Laura Roslin]] receiving the fetal blood from [[Sharon Valerii (Caprica copy)|Sharon Valerii's]] and [[Karl Agathon|Helo's]] child, which dramatically annihilated the [[Wikipedia:Cancer|breast cancer]] and its subsequent metastasis (spreading) that almost kills Roslin.
-The believability of this event is low given that viewers have seen, from the first moment we meet the character of Laura Roslin, that cancer in the Twelve Colonies is just as dire as it is on the real-world Earth.
+===Why hasn't ''Galactica'' jumped in over 20 years?===
-Killing cancer cells is not inherently a problem in treatment. But killing cancer growths without damaging healthy tissue is the larger issue. As cancer spreads and grows, it infests itself in healthy tissue where surgery is made impossible (brain cancer is commonly inoperable because of the likelihood of damage to critical areas of the brain). Likewise, chemotherapy is less invasive, but can also leave nasty changes to body chemistry and highly undesireable side effects. Roslin mentions that her mother also had breast cancer that she had treated with [[diloxin]] therapy, which appears to be a form of chemotherapy. Roslin declined this treatment in favor of [[Chamalla]] extract, a treatment that led to [[Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I|interesting side effects]], but ultimately failed in slowing or stopping her cancer (as Dr. [[Cottle]] predicted).
+Before the attack, ''Galactica'' herself hadn't jumped for over 20 years, according to [[Saul Tigh]] {{TRS|Miniseries}}. Aside from the general reasons for not jumping about (see above), ''Galactica'' is a special case:
-The cancer cure seen in "Epiphanies" appeared to accomplish the following abilities:
+* ''Galactica'' was among the oldest ships in the Colonial Fleet. In comparison to her modern sister battlestars, ''Galactica''{{'|s}} un-refitted status may have made her woefully poor for modern battlestar training. Some Colonial Fleet staff may have also felt that ''Galactica''{{'|s}} age and lack of advanced Colonial technology had deemed her not spaceworthy for regular jumping (as Saul Tigh appears to believe, training notwithstanding).
-*Destroyed all cancerous and pre-cancerous cells in the bloodstream (to prevent relapsing)
+* It's also likely that ''Galactica'' was also an historic vessel that few Colonial government politicians would care to lose to an FTL accident if they were defense spending proponents. Therefore, she may have been practically "dry-docked" around the vicinity of Caprica, still commissioned and regularly manned, but not considered an effective warship on normal patrol. Possibly, when the costs of running ''Galactica'' as a regular warship became too high, the idea of formally dry-docking the ship in orbit around Caprica, and turning her into a [[Galactica Museum|museum]], is considered <ref>The United States has a counterpart to what ''Galactica'' might have been or was to become: the [http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/ USS ''Constitution''--"Old Ironsides."]</ref>.
-*Destroyed all cancer cells in organ tissue while repairing damage to organs with tumors or other infection
-*Differentiated between the host's healthy cells and the cancerous cells
-*Be effective with a relatively small dose, since fetal blood volume is low and cannot be taken in large amounts
-*Left few or no immediate side-effects
-There could be some logic to the use of the Cylon hybrid fetal blood, but this requires some stretching of the imagination and perhaps some genetic work.
+* Another possibility would be to consider the purpose of a military vessel like ''Galactica'' while in times of peace. Her standing mission most likely involved patrolling Colonial space. It would not be practical or effective to jump from point to point when performing such a patrol.
-*Earth science has confirmed that [[Wikipedia:Stem cells|stem cells]], undifferentiated cells found in fetal tissue that change into any needed organ or body part, can be used to aid in cellular repair. (''According to the podcast for this episode, this was, in fact, ''the'' agent of the cure. However, Moore believed the explanation would be too much [[technobabble]] for audiences and had the explanation truncated.'')
+==Construction of the [[Blackbird]]==
-* Moore's use of fetal stem cells appears to support early research, but with a new twist. According to [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5195551 new research], fetal stem cells from the placentas of babies (born or not) leak into the body of a mother and appear to act as specialized "protectors" that can repair or lessen the effects of damaged tissues or disease. The presence of these cells can be for years, and is compounded by the number of pregnancies of the mother.
-*Earth science has also confirmed that the human immune system mounts a response to cancer, which can lead to the regression of tumors. People with compromised immunity, such as those infected with HIV, suffer from malignancies that are uncommon in the general population. Some cancer researchers have speculated that improving the immune response could provide a cure for cancer possessing all of the above features.
-*Despite their appearance, [[Humano-Cylon|humanoid Cylon agents]] are not human, but created. Perhaps in their creation, Cylons designed the humanoid bodies to fight off or identify genetic malfunctions immediately, or may be created without any of the historic genetic abnormalities found in humans that could trigger cancer or other diseases.
-==Cylon Genetics==
+''In his [[Podcast:Flight of the Phoenix|podcast]] for "[[Flight of the Phoenix]]," [[Ronald D. Moore|Ron D. Moore]] acknowledges the build-time dilemma for the Blackbird, and notes that the vagueness of time elapsed to build the machine was intentional so as to allow it to be built and done with in one episode, instead of drawing out the building into two or three episodes.''
-The exact technical nature of the humanoid Cylon models is unknown.  Apparently, they are the result of incredibly advanced bio-mechanical engineering.  A great deal of technical insight into the humanoid Cylons, and more specifically, the Cylon-Human Hybrid fetus, was going to be revealed in “[[Epiphanies]]”.  However, according to Ron D. Moore’s podcast for this episode, almost all of these were cut, to the point that in the final edit Baltar is left saying that the “blood” of the hybrid is “special”.  Many fans thought this explanation was a little too abrupt.  RDM explained that he was afraid that viewers would react to a longer, more detailed explanation as [[technobabble]], and edited the material out as a result.  This doesn’t mean that this material is ‘’incorrect’’; nothing Baltar says in the aired episode would be contradicted be further elaboration, as Baltar’s comments that the blood is an “amalgam”, etc. are so vague that further information wouldn’t contradict it.  These scenes will probably become available in the Season 2.5 DVD box set.
+Some viewers may express confusion over the amount of time necessary to build the new fighter as well as the time it took to fight off the logic bomb and the Cylon attack. All in all, the whole episode may seem like a series of ''[[Wikipedia:Deus ex machina |deus ex machina]]'' events to close up the episode.
-However, several shots of Baltar going through notes on the genetic structure of the Hybrid’s DNA, etc. can be seen in promo commercials for this episode.  Although no screencaps exist for this, careful analysis has yielded several new insights.   [[image:Uracil.png|thumb|right|Uracil]]
+To the episode's credit, it appears that several weeks' worth of time elapse in the episode. This might stretch believability in the fighter's construction, but not in the logic bomb crisis. It must be noted that the breakdown in morale has left many of the crew with very little to do that's worthwhile in their free time. A monumental task such as building a fighter may be relatively easy for a highly motivated, highly skilled, but highly bored group of people (as indicated by the near-cheerful disposition of the workers when Lee Adama and Tigh visit the fighter).
-Baltar is seen looking at this base of a nucleotide which belongs to the Cylon-Human Hybrid:  The [[Wikipedia:nucleobase|nucleobase]]  he examines is recognizable as [[Wikipedia:Uracil|Uracil]] (which is actually used in mRNA, not DNA):
+Further, the fighter is aided by specialists of particular fields in its construction--something that Tyrol hasn't the luxury of having while in combat situations. As such, he has more willing and able resources at his command to create the ship than during any Viper repair. The crew is also not under pressure to build the system rapidly; there are many contributors, and work such of this lead to a faster build time. It may also be presumed that the Viper design, of which the Blackbird is derived, may have a simple construction of [[avionics]], crew pressure module, engines, and superstructure. These ships are designed for rapid repair and redeploy, so, aside from the Blackbird's initial framework, much of the ship would likely be similar to a Viper. Also, the Blackbird is likely built with more modern technology than that found in the older and harder-to-service Viper Mk. II fighters--the Blackbird is likely descended more from the advanced Mk. VII Viper, which Tyrol's crew is trained to understand and maintain, not the obsolete Viper Mk. II museum pieces.
-This would seem to support the notion that the humanoid Cylons are indeed carbon-based, as opposed to silicon-based.  However, just as the human body contains the metal Calcium but is not calcium-based, the Cylons incorporate silicon into their physiology, but appear to be carbon-based.
+It is also established in the episode that there are spare spacecraft parts available to Tyrol—at the beginning of the episode he marks a severely damaged Viper for scrap, and Colonel Tigh walks in on his still and informs him of some [[DDG-62|extra engines]] and other parts that another ship in the Fleet is trying to dispose of. Given the ability to cannibalize already built parts, the assembly of the Blackbird is not as great a task as building a Viper from scratch might be.
+Lastly, the Colonials had [[Stealth Star|built a stealth ship before]]. Some of Tyrol's crew may even have experience with stealth technology.
-==Sources==
+==The problems of colonization==
-#{{note|Jack}} President Adar's office on Caprica was confirmed the second-season episode "[[Epiphanies]]". Reinforcing this information, Roslin speaks by [[wireless]] to  "Jack", a fellow secretary or government official. Jack tells Laura of the devastation of his location and Adar's speculated whereabouts and actions. Given that wireless transmission ranges in real-time conversation would limit Roslin to be able to speak only with Caprica (the nearest colony), Jack must be on Caprica, likely in Caprica City.
-#{{note|vipers}} In the [[Miniseries]], viewers see a preflight checkout and launch of the fighters. For launch, the [[Launch tubes|launch tube]] uses a magnetic catapult ("magcat") to hurl the Viper out. On landing, either magnetism or some blend of artificial gravity pulls Vipers to rest on the deck of the [[Flight pod|flight pod]]. This force appears to be just strong enough; note the bouncing that the fighters do as their landing skids hit the landing deck while they retreat to ''Galactica'' as it prepares to Jump from Ragnar Anchorage at the conclusion of the Miniseries.
-#{{note|helium3}} See [[Wikipedia:Helium-3|Wikipedia's article on Helium-3]] and [http://www.asi.org/adb/02/09/he3-intro.html this article]] by a private firm on the concept.
+The harsh conditions in [[New Caprica City]] illustrate the difficulties of establishing a colony on a new planet, let alone one that is as inhospitable as [[New Caprica]]. These difficulties are greatly amplified by the small size of the surviving human population.
-==See Also==
+A small founding population is prone to the effects of inbreeding, but the historical example on Earth indicates that, with the proper regulation of consanguineous marriages, it should not be a problem for a city larger than a few hundred people<ref name="Birdsell">See "Biological Dimensions of Small Human Founding Populations" by J.B. Birdsell in ''Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience''. University of California Press, 1985.</ref>. The population on New Caprica was drawn from the full [[Twelve Colonies]] so its initial genetic diversity should be high.
-[[Naturalistic science fiction]]
+These factors will apply wherever the human population settles, assuming it does not find the [[Thirteenth Tribe (RDM)|Thirteenth Tribe]] with its existing population base. There is a reason it took ''Homo sapiens'' on Earth over 100,000 years to grow from a population of 50,000 to a global technological civilization: population size is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for economic development, because it allows for division of labor<ref name="Hodges">See "The Division of Labor and Interstellar Migration" by William A. Hodges in ''Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience''. University of California Press, 1985.</ref>. The Colonials may be able to leapfrog because of their existing knowledge and skills, but judging from the [[History of the Twelve Colonies]], it took the tribes leaving Kobol roughly 2,000 years to develop into an advanced civilization. One can argue that it would take the surviving human population an equivalent length of time to do the same---perhaps longer, given that their exodus was unplanned.
-[[FTL]]
+The humans will have to develop agriculture, industry, and infrastructure almost from scratch. In the time it takes them to do so, there will be a slow erosion of knowledge, as the original population with its memories of the Twelve Colonies dies off. It is quite likely that economic development would regress before it improves. Indeed, after less than two years, the humans have already exhausted their supply of medicines and have developed no way to manufacture more.
-[[Sublight Propulsion]]
+{{clear}}
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:A to Z]]
+[[Category:RDM]]
 [[Category:Technology]]
+[[Category:Technology (RDM)]]
 [[Category:Terminology]]
-[[Category:RDM]]
+[[Category:Terminology (RDM)]]