A colony ship was a type of starship used to colonize a planet or moon.
Before the invention of the hyperdrive, human colony ships were usually large, slow vessels that took hundreds of T-years to reach their destination, resulting in the dilemma that sometimes the target system had already been reached by faster ships of later centuries upon arrival. (UHH)
Most early colony ships were built in orbit of Earth or Mars. (HH8)
Known colony ships[]
- The Prometheus was the first interstellar colony ship launched by humanity. Her departure from the Sol System marked the beginning of the Diaspora of Man. (UHH)
- The Calvin's Hope was a sub-light generation ship launched shortly after news of the successful colonization of Beowulf reached Earth. After its original destination was compromised by an asteroid strike, it eventually colonized the planet Sanctuary in the Refuge System. (DF)
- The Gideon, a sublight cryoship, departed Earth in the early 4th Century PD to bring the Reverend Austin Grayson and his Church of Humanity Unchained to the Yeltsin's Star System. It took 674 T-years to make the journey. (Companion)
- The Jason was a sublight vessel used by Roger Winton and his followers to travel to Manticore. It took 642 T-years to reach its destination. (HH1)
- The Icarus was the first Warshawski sail-using colony ship sent into space by humanity in 1284 PD. Unlike other colony ships which were dismantled at the target location, she remained in use for over two hundred T-years. (UHH)