Sublight propulsion: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:36, 9 October 2006

The rag tag fleet of the Original Series traveling at sublight (Saga of a Star World).

Sublight propulsion is the opposite of faster-than-light propulsion.

Essentially, the term "sub-light engines" refers to a ship's conventional drives used for leaving and attaining planetary orbits or traveling short distances.

Sublight Spacecraft in the Re-Imagined Series

In the Re-imagined Series, all ships have some manner of sublight flight ability. Sublight propulsion is convenient for intra-solar system travel (such as to or from the planets that comprise the Twelve Colonies), but cannot be used for travel outside of a solar system as the time to arrive at a destination may exceed the fuel supply of the ship or the lifetime of the crew that fly the ship.

Spacecraft with sublight flight ability are typically small military vehicles or civilian ships, such the Viper fighter craft or the Botanical Cruiser (Miniseries).

Sublight Spacecraft in the Original Series

In the Original Series, Battlestar Galactica was the only spacecraft in the refugee Colonial fleet with FTL (or "lightspeed") ability (Experiment in Terra). Normally, Galactica would only travel as fast as the slowest sublight vessel in its rag-tag Fleet. Unlike its Re-imagined counterpart, however, Galactica apparently accelerated to lightspeed through its engines and did not perform any hyperdimensional movement.

Fuel

Ships in both Original Series and Re-imagined Series use the refined material known as tylium as fuel.

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 [[Image:Ragtagfleet.jpg|thumb|right|The rag tag fleet of the Original Series traveling at sublight ([[Saga of a Star World]]).]]
-'''Sublight''' propulsion is the opposite of the apparent faster-than-light propulsion used by many Colonial military and civilian vessels. Essentially, the term "sub-light engines" refers to a ship's conventional drives used for leaving and attaining planetary orbits or traveling short distances. All ships have some manner of sublight flight ability, but any ship that cannot perform a [[FTL|Jump]] has sub-light flight ability only. Sublight propulsion is convenient for intra-solar system travel (such as to or from the planets that comprise the [[Twelve Colonies]]), but cannot be used for travel outside of a solar system as the time to arrive at a destination may exceed the fuel supply of the ship or the lifetime of the crew that fly the ship.
+'''Sublight''' propulsion is the opposite of faster-than-light propulsion.
-==Sublight Spacecraft in the Re-Imagined Series==
+Essentially, the term "sub-light engines" refers to a ship's conventional drives used for leaving and attaining planetary orbits or traveling short distances.
-Spacecraft in the [[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|re-imagined Battlestar Galactica]] universe with sub-light flight ability include the [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] fighter craft and shuttles. There were also many other sublight vessels gathered by President [[Laura Roslin]] in the midst of the [[Cylon Attack]] in hopes of evacuating them to other civilian vessels with FTL ability. Unfortunately, an imminent [[Cylon]] attack did not allow such a transfer in time, and sublight ships such as the [[Botanical Cruiser]] were left behind to their doom as the FTL-capable ships made a rendezvous with [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar]] ''[[Galactica]]'' at [[Ragnar Anchorage]] ([[Miniseries]]).
+==Sublight Spacecraft in the [[Re-Imagined Series]]==
-==Sublight Spacecraft in the Original Series==
+In the Re-imagined Series, all ships have some manner of sublight flight ability. Sublight propulsion is convenient for intra-solar system travel (such as to or from the planets that comprise the [[The Twelve Colonies (RDM)|Twelve Colonies]]), but cannot be used for travel outside of a solar system as the time to arrive at a destination may exceed the fuel supply of the ship or the lifetime of the crew that fly the ship.
-In the Original Series, [[Battlestar (TOS)|Battlestar]] ''[[Galactica (TOS)|Galactica]]'' was the only spacecraft in the refugee Colonial fleet with FTL (or "[[lightspeed]]") ability ([[Experiment in Terra]]). Normally, ''Galactica'' would only travel as fast as the slowest sublight vessel in the rag-tag fleet.
+Spacecraft with sublight flight ability are typically small military vehicles or civilian ships, such the [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] fighter craft or the [[Botanical Cruiser]] ([[Miniseries]]).
+==Sublight Spacecraft in the [[Original Series]]==
+In the Original Series, [[Battlestar (TOS)|Battlestar]] ''[[Galactica (TOS)|Galactica]]'' was the only spacecraft in the refugee Colonial fleet with FTL (or "[[lightspeed]]") ability ([[Experiment in Terra]]). Normally, ''Galactica'' would only travel as fast as the slowest sublight vessel in its [[The Fleet (TOS)|rag-tag Fleet]]. Unlike its Re-imagined counterpart, however, ''Galactica'' apparently accelerated to lightspeed through its engines and did not perform any hyperdimensional movement.
 ==Fuel==