Tylium (RDM)

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Tylium is a fuel used in both the Original Series and Re-imagined Series.

Re-imagined Tylium[edit]

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

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

Typically, tylium ore is mined from asteroids and is apparently not found on the Twelve Colonies natively. Large tylium ore deposits can keep fleets fueled for years (The Hand of God). In its raw form tylium is a relatively fine, powdery substance, that is refined to a liquid in refinery ships. Care needs to be taken to not introduce impurities into the fuel (Dirty Hands).


According to Dr. Baltar in the episode "The Hand of God", tylium has the following characteristics:

  • Tylium ore is rendered inert and unusable when exposed to nuclear radiation
  • It is extremely easy to trigger a chain reaction in (compared to 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

Original Tylium[edit]

Practically nothing on the fuel is told in the Original Series.

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".

Notes[edit]

  • 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. As the Original Series DVD material, as well as labels seen in "Dirty Hands", shows the spelling as "tylium," Battlestar Wiki contributors should use "tylium" as the correct spelling.

See Also[edit]

Substances in the Re-imagined Series for a discussion on the nature of tylium.