Editing FTL Jump Drives (section)

==='''FURTHER INFORMATION'''===

FTL is an abbreviation for Faster-Than-Light. The term refers to a means of interstellar propulsion utilized by the Cylons and the Colonials. A common shorthand term for FTL travel is "jumping", as this space-folding drive involves making instantaneous "jumps" across vast distances in space.

The FTL drive makes interstellar travel possible for both the Colonials and Cylons. No longer confined to their own home solar system, the Cylons managed to avoid Colonial interference for 40 years after the Cylon War and establish their own home-world. However, not all ships — from small to large — are outfitted with these drives (Miniseries).

It is likely that FTL drives are not commonplace on many civilian ships because of the costs involved in using and maintaining the drive and the amount of fuel available. For some civilian ships that travel comparatively short distances between some destinations, such as the ill-fated Botanical Cruiser (Miniseries), FTL may simply be impractical or unnecessary.

The technology behind FTL systems is such that, providing the relevant data is known (how that data is acquired, for instance how ships can determine what obstacles are present at their destination, despite never having traveled there before, is not known) ships can jump with a high degree of accuracy, allowing ships to rendezvous in space and even "park" in a synchronous orbit directly above a given point on a planet's surface (Miniseries). Proper FTL use even enables vessels to arrive in crowded areas, such as the middle of an asteroid field or other ships, without the risk of collision and damage (The Hand of God).

Little specific information on the technology of an FTL drive has been given in the Miniseries or regular series. We know only that Galactica  has two FTL drives[2], and that other smaller or civilian ships have a single drive. Ships also do not need to be in motion for the FTL drive to work, or at least smaller craft do not need to be, as Raptors during the Battle of the Colony jump directly from Galactica's starboard flight pod without engaging in forward momentum.

FTL drives on Galactica are said to be "spun up" in preparation for a jump, contain components such as the "spinner" ("The Captain's Hand") and "spin-sync generator" ("Faith") and display a rotational and possibly electromagnetic operation. Until the final-season episode, "Blood on the Scales", the expression was theorized by many fans to be either a turn of phrase, or an anachronism dating back to another form of propulsion, much like the use of the term "air" in reference to fighter operations in the vacuum of space ("Commander Air Group", "Combat Air Patrol", inter alia) and the real-world use of "sail" and "set sail" in reference to self-propelled vessels.

An operational FTL drive was first seen in "Blood on the Scales", specifically one of Galactica's two. Indeed, an assortment of long, thick shafts spin as part of the FTL drive mechanism. The FTL engine room includes a control terminal for diagnostic and auxiliary control. In order to prevent Felix Gaeta and his mutineers from jumping Galactica to an unknown location, former Senior Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol attempted to log into the engine room terminal which refused him access, recognizing his duty status as "inactive". He was nevertheless able to manually disable the drive by removing a synchronization coil. Gaeta made no attempt to use the other FTL drive, indicating either that the other drive was inoperative, the two drives are not entirely independent, that neither drive alone is sufficient to jump the ship, or that Gaeta simply decided that the mutiny and Coup d'état were doomed and futher attempts were pointless.

FTL jump drives can be used within an atmosphere. This Colonial tactic is used often to evade Cylon detection. While Raptors  primarily perform these kind of jumps, Admiral William Adama performs a daring intra-atmosphere jump at approximately 100,000 feet altitude with Galactica during the Battle of New Caprica to evade immediate Cylon detection. The battlestar jumps back to space a few thousand feet above the planet's surface after its Viper deployment. When Galactica jumps, the clouds surrounding it and the re-entry fires consuming its hull are "sucked" into the vacuum created by the sudden loss of volume. A clap of thunder is heard afterward, likely caused by air rushing into the aforementioned vacuum (Exodus, Part II). A similar phenomenon occurs when Pegasus  jumps from the attack on the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards; the resulting displacement not only draws in the burning gases from the nearby berthing superstructure, but also defuses two nuclear warheads bound for Pegasus itself (Razor).

An area of spatial distortion of some sort is also produced when a ship jumps. This effect has been observed twice thus far. Once, when the tylium refinery ship Hitei Kan is approached by a pair of Vipers and a Raptor in an effort to quell a mutiny aboard the ship. The Hitei Kan unexpectedly jumps and the Vipers and Raptor are repelled away by some force as soon as the ship dematerializes (A Disquiet Follows My Soul). The second time this is seen is when a Raptor stolen by Sharon "Boomer" Valerii executes a jump mere meters away from Galactica’s hull. When the Raptor disappears into the jump the section of the hull it was adjacent to is instantaneously indented. Just prior to that, Col. Saul Tigh expresses his fears of even greater damage should Valerii jump the Raptor while inside Galactica’s flight pod (Someone to Watch Over Me). During the Battle of the Colony, several Raptors actually do jump from within Galactica’s sealed off starboard flight pod causing significant damage to the landing bay within the pod and most likely contributed to the catastrophic failure of her hull after the battle (Daybreak, Part II). It is not clear how this distortion field, which seems to produce effects like a shock wave, also coincides with the known effect of a jump acting as a sort of vacuum, which instead of producing an outwards wave should pull the surrounding space into it. The two effects might occur consecutively, the vacuum effect left in the ship's wake, then the expelled shock wave, as hangar equipment in the flight pod is seen being pulled towards the vacuum before being expelled outwards.

Later, the Fleet's FTL drives are upgraded by the Rebel Cylons so they can now travel as far and as fast as a Cylon ship. Not all ships are apparently upgraded as for some reason, the Raptor Boomer steals lacks the upgraded drive.