Tylium (RDM)

Apollo destroys a Cylon base to win supplies of tylium in The Hand of God

Tylium is the material used to fuel the propulsion systems of Colonial and Cylon craft. Three forms are known of: tylium ore, refined tylium precursor, and refined tylium (the fuel itself).

Typically, tylium ore is mined from asteroids (The Hand of God) and is apparently not found on the Twelve Colonies natively. Large tylium ore deposits can keep fleets fueled for years.

According to Dr. Baltar: (The Hand of God)

• Tylium ore is rendered inert and unusable when exposed to nuclear radiation.
• It is extremely easy to trigger a chain reaction in (compared to, say, uranium or plutonium), requiring only the heat and pressure generated by a conventional warhead exploding next to it.
• Refined tylium precursor is much easier to trigger than the fuel itself.
• Refined tylium has a tremendous energy density of approximately half a billion megajoules per kilogram, or about 6 times greater than Uranium-235 and 81% that of deuterium fusion. However, it's unknown how efficient Colonial and Cylon reactors are.
• Tylium's detonation results in no radioactive fallout.

Note

• Tylium is a fuel used in both the Original Series as well as the Re-imagined Series. The content in this article speaks of the properties of tylium in the RDM continuity.
• In the Original Series, the term was pronounced as "TIE-lee-um" as opposed to "TILL-lee-um" in the Re-imagined Series, as heard in "Saga of a Star World."
• The official series web page on the Sci-Fi Channel web site incorrectly spells the substance as "tyllium" in the description of the Mining Ship on the Ships page. Given that the Original Series DVD material shows the spelling as "tylium," Battlestar Wiki contributors should use "tylium" as the correct spelling.