Sublight propulsion

This page/section has been suggested to be merged partially into Propulsion in the Re-imagined Series. Please discuss this suggestion on the appropriate talk page.

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.