Normal planetary gravity is simulated by rotating the station. Outward acceleration at the perimeter is approximately 9.8 m/s2 [1g]. The station does not have engines per se, although there are small thrusters used in maintaining it's location at the L5 point. It is located 160,000 km from where Babylon 4 used to be, and is 92,000km from the planet.

The station is defended by a low level defence grid, as well as several small weapon emplacements located beneath panels on the outer hull, and a complement of more than 48 Starfuries (both original and Thunder Bolt versions).

The "front" of the station consists of two docking bays, the first allowing small craft to enter along the 0g centreline, and be transferred to the appropriate bay, and the second dedicated to craft remaining in free fall. The forward section also contains the cobra bays for the fighters.

Other locations of interest include the Observation Dome, from where the station is run; the Zocalo, a shopping and entertainment district; and the Garden, an O'Neill style environment (cylinder with gardens, pools, cafes baseball etc. in it).

The station's main computer is based on crystalline human-alien hybrid technology, and is capable of both written and voice input and output in several languages. Integrated within its system is the Babcom communications network, which handles intastation, ship-to-station, and long- range Tachyon messages.
All the computer systems on the station are controlled via this centralised system. This system is subject to commands from terminals, and also the external communications feed, so Earth Alliance command could order the shutdown of life support for instance, although the access codes have now been changed. When the system was originally put on-line an artificial intelligence (or personality) was installed as part of the interface, but was later removed due to compatibility problems with the human staff. However, the personality (called Sparky) still surfaces from time to time.

All command crew and diplomatic staff have a 'Link' stuck to the back of their hand, which acts as a futuristic walkie talkie. These contain a tracking beacon. Earthforce personal links are bio-coded and can not be used by anyone except their correct owner. Any attempt to use someone else's link triggers a warning in C&C.

Main power is handled by the fusion generator at the tail of the station.

Internal co-ordinates are as follows. First a colour, denoting a ring of the station. Then one of, on average, 36 level numbers, and a letter denoting section. Hence the main corridor passes through blue 15 a for example.

A jump gate is located nearby with the Corridor being the standard approach vector to the station. Vessels straying off the Corridor's flight path are fined.

South, Back end                                 North, Front end

		       Radiator Fins
		       |
		       V                             Tachyon Emitter
							 |
		   /\ /\ /\                              V
		   || || || /\____________  _______      .
	 __       _||_||_||//-------------\/--------\___/_____
 |\______||______/ || || ||       | |     |  |  \___/   \   ^
 ||      ||      | ---------------| |     |  |  |___     |  |
 ||______||______\________________| |_____|  |  |___\___/   Docking Horns
 |/      ||        || || || \_____|_|/    |__|__/
		   || || ||
		   \/ \/ \/

   ^              ^     ^    ^     ^     ^ ^  ^ ^ ^   ^
   |              |     |    |     |     | |  | | |   |
   |              |     |    |   Green   | |  | | |   Docking bay
   |              |     |    |  section  | |  | | Cobra bays
   |              |     |    |           | |  | Med lab/Iso lab
   |              |     |    |           | |  Blue section
   |              |     |    |    the    | Red section
   |              |     |    +--Garden---+
   |              |     Gray section
   |              Brown section
   Fusion reactor
      
(ASCII art by Richard Meikle)
     

The zero-g bays extent well into the middle of the station, just above red sector. Although the area is stationary, it as accessible from many parts of the habitable sections of the station.

Mounted above and between the docking horns is the Tachyon transmitter/receiver and the docking beacon.

Below the zero-g docking bay, in the rotating section, is the docking bay proper. All ships enter the station dead centre. An incoming ship surrenders its shipboard computer to the Babylon 5 Command and Control, or C&C, located directly beneath the bay entrance. While most pilots can easily match the station's rotation, however the possibility of pilot error is far greater than computer error. Unfortunately, certain cost-cutting measures in docking hardware have lead to accidental loss of life and property. A ship is then taken and lowered into one of many bays located toward the hull. The docking areas are divided into sections, with the diplomatic and military bays having restricted access.
Starfuries are housed in separate launch bays in cobra shaped projections along the round front of the station, hence their common name "Cobra Bays."

Set in the front of the station, beneath the entrance to the dock areas, is a window which looks into C&C. This can be covered with a set of blast doors, as can the docking entrance. C&C is located 1/3 of the way off the spin axis, and hence is a low gravity area (1/3g). The C&C main 'Window' is in fact, a huge slab of armor glass that can do multiple duty as a controllable filter and digital display device. The 'window' can be transparent when you want it to, and can also display video images from any source; thus, the C&C window can be looking out through the eye of a camera on the loading bay spines, through a camera mounted on the non-rotating spine, or from any camera-equipped spot on the station, including the Maint-Bots. The only time the view through the C&C "Window" seems to be spinning is when it's been switched to "Transparent Mode" or it is displaying the view seen from a camera mounted on a spinning part of the station. (Gharlane of Eddore)

The interior station is itself divided in to colour coded sectors. Blue sector houses station administration and EA personnel quarters. Also in Blue Sector are the Medlabs, staffed by highly trained xenobiologists to tend to the ambassadors and Earth Force personnel. Medlab One is a small facility exclusively used by the Medical Chief of Staff, Doctor Stephen Franklin.
There are larger medical facilities, resembling proper hospitals, elsewhere on the station.
A recent addition to Blue Sector is the Strategic War Room, from which the war with the Shadows is monitored and directed.

Red Sector is relegated to business and diplomatic chambers.
Red Sector's highlight is the Zocalo. Hundreds of shops, stands, bars, restaurants, and clubs line the curved passageways, as does the EA postal services Post Office.

Aliens requiring alternate atmosphere/gravity to generally more common oxy-nitro combinations live in the Alien Sector. While most aliens here require special mixes, oxygen breathing aliens tend to gravitate here, away from the overabundance of humans elsewhere. Ambassadors and their entourages are housed in a separate part of Green Sector, with higher security.
The alien sector is not all blank corridors covered in noxious gasses, the Hanging Gardens houses various varieties of alien plant life suited to a methane-ammonia atmosphere. The Garden got its name from the various spheres of soils that hang suspended from the ceiling by thick chains. Most of the alien growths are phosphorescent.
The Dilgar War Memorial was erected here to commemorate the world and species that fell to the Dilgar.

Green sector contains high-security quarters for the various alien diplomats (with adjustable environment quarters for ambassadors that require it). The Vorlon quarters are number 8.
Unauthorised personnel are not admitted.

Both Grey and Brown Sectors were largely unfinished due to budgetary constraints.
Grey sector is infamous for the Babylon 5 Triangle -- an area around Grey 17 that leads an active imagination to believe the place is haunted.
Maintenance crews have reported strange lights, sounds and disappearances in the area.
There is a 'extra' level between the levels labelled Grey 16 and Grey 17, resulting in Grey sector having 'only' 29 levels. The real Grey 17 is inaccessible from normal routes, and is filled with junk, a rather nasty alien, and a mad cult.

All sectors (apart from those under the garden) have 95 levels.

The Service Collar is the name for the structure immediately behind the command and docking sphere at the head of the station. Immediately "south" of the collar is Customs and Disembarkation. Customs is a hundred-meter wide chamber running alongside the collar. While most employees are human, several aliens are employed using hardware translators.

The entire interior of the rotating cylinder is called the Garden. It's main purpose is to provide food and oxygen reclamation for the station. Most of the food grown here do not require seasonal changes, since there are no seasons in this artificial environment. Foods that do need seasonal variation are grown in separate hydroponic areas. In addition to necessary insects cultivated in the zoos below the "ground," birds are also in the Garden all of which are now used to the "new physics" of flying in this environment. No one is allowed to "camp out" on the interior anyone doing so is arrested for destroying precious crops. A small percentage of the 12 square miles of vegetation is used for recreation. Supporting the park plant life is twenty meters of dirt, under which are four levels of hydrobays, support systems, storage and silage units, water and oxygen reclamation units, chemical processors, farm equipment garages, and insect zoos. There is a train in the garden that runs around the circumference of the station. The garden is half a kilometer across.

"Downbelow" is a term used to describe the unused parts of the station where the homeless, or Lurkers, eke out a living. Trapped on station for various reasons, most die here unknown and unrememberd.

A monorail runs the length of the station, along the axis of rotation, hence it is in a zero-g environment, and so is known as the Zero-G Train.

The hull of Babylon 5 is a double hull to provide an extra layer of protection from micrometor strikes and internal explosions. This leaves a crawl space between the two hulls.

The rotating sections are mounted on electro-magnetic bearings.

B5 communicates with earth via a faster than light link able to carry many live video feeds to and from B5. This FTL link also allows real-time video communication with other races homeworlds and ships.
B5 is orbited by unmanned maintenance robots (Maint-Bots).
These have colour vision, the feed from which may be patched into the B5 video network.

B5 also has video cameras (Monitors) that can be sent to automatically film an area. The video recorders are made of an extremely ultralight material, new alloys that in total weigh less than an ounce; it has a visible (and audible) air propulsion system, a high speed fan with a stabiliser/gyroscope that keeps it steady, and moves it forward. (JMS)

The main power source is a fusion reactor, mounted at the rear of the station. This can be reached, for maintaince purposes, by the Zero-G Train, or via a large set of doors set into the hull. Inside these there is a large open space, with the reactor wall forming one wall of this space.

The floors are linked via 'transport tubes' that take the form of lifts, which move radily (that is, from the centre line outwards to the hull).

Update to B5 Weapons Grid
A visiting platoon of Ground Pounders installed an enhanced Defence Grid for the B5 station. The updated specs are as follows:

• Pulse cannons
• Interceptors
• Mine launchers
• Upgrade to the tracking system ( x3 speed increase)

B5 Population

• 1,500 Dock Workers
• 6,500 Earthforce personnel
• 42% of population are 'Aliens' i.e. non-Earthers
• Total Population: 1/4 million

Each area (such as green-2 or whatever) is split into segments. These segments can be isolated from each other in the event of fire, flood or vacuum. This is achieved by having a transparent door slide down and seal off the area. The door has strips of the zones colour, and small flashing red lights set into it.
In the docking and other areas close to vacuum these are stronger, made out of a beryllium alloy. They are highly resistant to PPG fire, the rebounds being a grave danger to the firer !

SHIP A huge ship, unsymetrical. Equipped with a torture chamber where captured aliens are forced to fight, and are experimented upon.

• High energy rapid fire energy cannon.
• Tractor beam.
• hyper-space engines / jump point generator.

SHIP Structured from 5-6 spheres, linked by symmetrical sets of four triangles.

• Unknown weapon systems, assumed energy cannon / missile.
• hyper-space engines. Possibly jump point generator, the ship is big enough to hold one.

BLOCKADE MINES Squat cylinder, with two cannons revolving around the top.
Assumed to be remotely controlled or automatic. Inaccurate, we have only seen them once, but most shots missed, and it was also commented that they were 'beginning to get [the] range', implying they can not fire straight away upon a target.

• Cannons (see above), but these appear to be very inaccurate.

FIGHTER Crescent shaped, thin and 'spacialdynamic'

• Beam weapon.
• Prob. hyper-space engines.

CRUISER Cross shaped

• hyper-space engines and jump point generator,
• missiles, misc. beam weapons.

MOTHER Like two cruisers joined side by side

• Beam weapons.
• hyper-space engines and jump point generator.
• Missiles
• Mass drivers.

FIGHTER (SA-23E)

• Four 20 megawatt pulse discharge cannons (located on thruster pods)
• Up to 8 externally mounted missiles with nuclear, frag., jam etc. warheads as needed.
• PDC's may be replaced with unguided missile launchers.
• 2 PPG's mounted under cockpit.

Four fuel cells mounted on the inboard trailing edge of each wing.
Thrust is vectored using a system of 8 flaps mounted behind the engines.
Launch rail attach points can be seen on the underside.
Long range scanners can detect objects up to 2 hours flight time away, and mix passive and active systems, and feature a multi-level active amp.
4.4 m long, 1 pilot. Thrust glows bluw-white. Seems not to have evolved much since the Earth-Minbari war.

• Variants
  • Star Fury (Black Omega): Used for infiltration due to advanced stealth capabilities. Very expensive. Omega decal on underside.
  • Star Fury (two seater): two cockpits, one facing forward, one facing aft. Missiles and heavy pulse cannons, fixed forward mountings, with a turret on the back.
  • Star Fury (Thunder Bolt (SA-42B) ):
    1 rapid burst pulse cannon. 4x missile rack under cockpit. Wings are more planer and feature swing wing on each of the 4 thrusters. When extended act as aerofoils, else folded over the body. Better speed and manoeuvrability then the original. Next generation of fighters, atmosphere capable- the thunderbolts can do a low-level bombing run and then leave the atmosphere. 2 seater. Minimum speed in atmosphere is about Mach 2, due to small wing size. Thrust glows orange, maybe they are not as efficent due to having to work in the atmosphere as well ?

CRUISER Functional. Rotating mid-section.

• hyper-space engines, jump point generator.
• Powerful forward beam weapon.
• Prob. missiles.

As above but more weapon sites, incl. a rear mounted powerful beam weapon, and a fighter compliment.

FIGHTER + CRUISER (Fighters are smaller version of Mother ships) Egg shaped, with four tendrils extending forward from the point. Vorlon Cruisers are 60 m in length.

• Beam weapon (energised in the nexus of the tendrils).
• hyper-space engines (jump point generator on mother.
• Method of propulsion unknown.
• Note also the "petals" which open out and towards the rear of the craft, and may be related to its propulsion (they are always shown being folded towards the craft as it approaches the docking bay of Babylon 5; of course, it wouldn't fit in the approach tunnel if the petals were extended...).

SHUTTLE Like fighter, but elongated.

• Beam Weapon?
• hyper-space engines.
• NOTE: Talks to Kosh via Vorlon writing. Kosh appears to be a subordinate to either the ship, or the sender of the message.
• Ship has facility to maintain Humen life for extended periods.
• Ship has auto-detect and destroy feature active while it is docked. This takes the form of a probe which morphs out of the side of the ship. It is not known what action it would take with persistent attackers.
• Surface is similar to Shadows', but is yellow with green patches, and can alter its look to generate letters.
• Kosh's Shuttle is almost permanently locked in B5 docking bay number 13.
• Shuttles are made for individual Vorlons, they are part of them, and can not live with out them. When the Vorlon dies, the ship grieves as best it can, for it is some sense alive, this usually takes the form of delivering itself and the personal effects to the nearest sun.

Each jump point, when viewed from hyper-space, can be thought of as a lighthouse, sending out a signal to guide ships to it.
Once in hyperspace, you can ride the navigational beams between beacons, and by corrolating the beacons, know where you have to come out.
(JMS)
Ships lock on to this beam to prevent themselves from becoming lost. If the signal is lost, there is little hope of re-establishing contact, and the ship must attempt to carry on its course on internal gyroscopic measurements only.
This is a high risk manoeuvre, and many ships have been lost without trace in hyper-space.

Aside from simply destabilising the point by firing on it or whatever, there is another way to use a point as a weapon. If one Gate is opened in another Gate, the competing energies are impossible to control and the whole thing explodes. However opening a jump point onto a jump point is impossible due to the hideous amount of energy required. However, if a convient jump gate is to hand, a jump point can be opened within that instead, the effect is the same. (JMS)
The energy released is huge, and expands rapidly.

The Babylon 5 Jump Gate is able to be told to reject certain ships, presumably on the basis of mass / shape etc. This may not be a common feature, but a function of the generation system used.

Narn fighters seem to carry PPG style weapons.
A Narn cruiser fires both Particle beam and PPG type weapons.

Centauri Fighters fire a PPG-like weapon only the blasts are red while Narn Fighters and Star Furies have white blasts.
Centauri Cruisers have similar red blast weapons. However, Instead of being PPG's they could be ion Cannons (G'Kar mentioned twice that Centauries used ion cannons).
Centauri Blockade Mines fire orange elongated shots.

Both Minbari Fighters and Warships have Green Particle beam-style weapons (the Narn's and the Agamemnon fired red particle beams). The Warships have larger ones.

Note: I use the word "like" because there is no concrete proof that the weapons are Particle Beams or PPG's.
(David Engkent)

The White Star fires purple elongated blasts from the pods, and white elongated blasts from somewhere near the front. Also on the front is rapid fire pulsed green energy weapon (Fusion cannon).

Vorlon mothers energise a ball of yellow/green energy in the nexus of their tendrils. From here a beam of energy is release.
Vorlon cruisers have some form of large scale energy weapon as well, which can be modulated, and act as a 'net' for larger vessels.
Vorlon fighters have yellow/green sparks of energy from their tendrils' nexus.

Shadow fighters fire white balls of energy, and pulse as they fire.
Shadow probes fire elongated purple blasts, looking like mini versions of the Shadow ships main weapon. Battle Crabs, Cruisers and Mothers have a continuos pinky-purple ray.

• hyper-space engines, jump point generator (almost certainly two, mounted one aft and one forward).
• 3 arrays of weapons (forward, left pod and right pod)
  • 1 heavy fusion laser (green, pulsed) (forward array)
  • 3 banks of rapid fire heavy neutron cannon (one to each array)
  • 3 power stasis beams (one to each array)
• Attractor beams, based on magnetic attraction, causing a mottled blue coating on the attracted ship.
• Grapple legs, and hull cutters.

• Prob. beyond our understanding, i.e. 'magic'
• Non stnd. hyper-space tech.

The Great Machine is controlled by the Heart - a control room where the Custodian is bodily hooked up to the machine. The machine itself chooses who may control it. Once installed, the Great Machine's operations are tied to the life signs of the Custodian. By entering the Machine, the Custodian's life is greatly extended, mostly by rejuvenating the physiology of the individual. The previous Custodian was the member of an unknown race named Varn who described that by being the Heart you "see all the futures, hear all the songs, and touch the edge of the universe with [one's] thoughts." The Heart allows anyone hooked into the Machine access to an "Ethernet." The Ether Interface allows a being to travel along the paths woven between all lifeforms. Within the Ether, time and space are irrelevant. Travelling the pathways can bring the traveller to the past, present, and future, allowing the Custodian to see into distant worlds and to gain greater understanding of the universe. A race of aliens live inside, acting as caretakers.

• Can gather all forms of information from a large area, project a hologramatic image of its operator large distances, and to astronomically distant places by tapping the paths, or energies, that link all life together.
• Has many energy based defence systems to prevent unauthorised craft landing on the planet, and presumably weapons to use against orbital craft.
• Heavily armed with missile launchers, planetary-scale slicer beams, electronic debilitator wave generators.
• The Machine has the ability to record transmissions found on the Etherweb from the past, and possibly future.
• The Custodian can also utilise the Machine's holographic projection system, allowing the receiver real-time interaction with the golden holo-image of the Custodian.
• The massive computer banks contain reports regarding the First Ones and their haunts: Tales of encounters with alien forces beyond description and stories of vast and nameless forces that prowl the ruins of ancient cities.
• At a great cost in terms of strain and energy, can create and control a stream of Tachyons, which can control time rifts, and use them as entries to Tachyon Space.

Metaphysics:
The Babylon 5 universe seems to behave according to the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Physics, with a number of 'ghost' futures co-existing until a choice is made which makes one of them 'real'. Messages may be passed 'backwards' from these ghost realities, though not forward from 'now' to the 'future'.
Time travel is possible in both directions, but at great strain, and cost in terms of energy. So far the only thing to do this feat is the Great Machine, however it seems likely that the Vorlons, Shadows, Sigma 957 and other First Ones have this technology, as do the Minbari to some small degree.

Data Crystals:
Much as 3.5" inch disks are the common storage media world-wide today, so data crystals are the common inter-race storage medium. Shaped like a very small (2cm) long transparent crystal they can store large amounts of data. As with disks this can be anything from text, to video, to sound, even personalities can be encoded.
The data is encoded as a pattern of refracting light, and the crystal altered to produce this pattern when illuminated.

Berzerker Probes:
These low-intelligence probes were sent out by the hundreds by an unknown race. They have no crew or weapons. Their seamless hull suggests they are (at least partially) organic ships. The probes are programmed to seek out intelligent life.
Once a suitable subject is found, the probe transmits alphabet and language codes (in all possibility not even the tongue of the Berserkers). If the subject figures out the code within a set amount of time, the probe transmits a series of over 600 questions relating to physics, quantum mechanics, molecular biology, genetics, and other advanced sciences. In return for correct answers, the probe promises to give the subject cures for every known disease, improved jump gate data and other advanced technology; if the subject fails to answer correctly, the probe will self-destruct with the force of 500 thousand megatons.
The subjects have twenty-four hours to respond. Unknown to the victims, the probe will detonate if the correct answers are given, failure to answer will prompt the probe to move on to another target.
In the event that the probe queries beings living on a planet, the blast is generally sufficient to wreak havoc with most incoming and outgoing communication systems (also further damaging the planet's ecosystem by throwing up a dust curtain) giving the Berserkers enough time to send more probe ships and finish the job.