Home Links Awards Humor Scripts Top Sites Planets Guide Weapons Guide Aliens Guide Technology Guide Vehicles Guide Droids Guide Creatures Guide News George Lucas Webrings Sign Guestbook View Guestbook Polls E-Mail Alex E-Mail Danny Pictures Posters Books Sounds Fan Art

Also know as 'realspace drive', the sublight drive is the basic propulsion system found aboard every starship. It is used either to propel a spacecraft within a star system, or to bring it far enough from any planet so it can successfully and safely jump to hyperspace. During the landing cycle, a starship's sublight drive is supplemented by a repulsorlift drive, allowing the ship to maneuver with heightened precision within the planet's atmosphere. Unlike hyperdrives, sublight drives cannot bring a spacecraft to exceed the speed of light (hence their name). Thus, starships equipped only with a sublight drive - like the Imperial TIE Fighter - are not designed to operate at great distances from their home base. Such craft must be carried to deep space destinations by a capital ship, like an Imperial Star Destroyer. The most common type of sublight drive is the Hoersch-Kessel (H-K) ion drive, which propels a ship by having its reactors generate a stream of charged particles. The A-wing and TIE Interceptor sport some of the most powerful sublight drives ever manufactured. Their high-velocity capabilities are spectacularly apparent during the attack on the second Death Star.