Space Exploration (Civ4)/Final Frontier/Civilopedia

Advances in space exploration took baby-steps rather than leaps and bounds. Hopping from planet to nearby planet for centuries, by the late twenty-second century, the first faster-than-light travel, based on Jing Shen's revolutionary Negative Energy Drive, had been successfully manufactured and deployed. The JS12, a vessel capable of reaching and colonizing a Star System within the lifetime of a single human being, remains one of the most influential inventions in history. Further refinements rapidly increased the efficiency of long-range space travel. Under the guidance of the PDE, a number of interstellar Colonies were founded. In 2302 AD contact with Earth was lost, and the Colonies were forced to quickly adapt their limited knowledge of these technologies to create their own starships.