Cold Plasma Shield

The Cold Plasma Deflector shields or screens, generally referred to simply as Cold Plasma shields or Plasma shields, were a type of force field that surrounds a starship, space station, or planet to protect against enemy attacks or natural hazards.Smaller versions are incorporated into personal battle armor,that surrounds the users personal environment and be sellected or adjusted to form about the wearers body.Some plasma shields can be formed into spherical disks or long shields,if need,to defend against a users specific perimeter.Cold Plasma Shields can be controlled by wrist bands,comlink bardges and Guider Gem Headbnds.

Operation

Deflector shields operated by creating a layer, or layers, of energetic distortion containing a high concentration of gravitons around the object to be protected. On starships, the shield contained six sections, forward, starboard, port, aft, dorsal, and ventral areas of a star ship. A shield was produced by a cold plasma field generator, the field deriving from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. Shields can be calibrated to permit the passage of matter below given speeds. This is vital in personal defense shields, as one would suffocate within a shield that did not admit atmospheric gasses. Depending on the shield's setting, the object's speed while passing through the shield would range from six to nine centimeters per second. A shield could also be set to cover either the left or right side of a person if the specific need for it arose. Shields used to protect installations can and usually do have far lower penetration velocities, as life support technologies can be used to recycle atmosphere while the shield is active.

However, if an energy beam hit a cold plasma field, it would result in sub-atomic fusion and a nuclear explosion. The center of this blast was determined by random chance; sometimes it would originate within the shield, sometimes within the laser weapon, sometimes both.

2 History Edit Shield: The Effect allowed the creation of a shielding that repelled most methods of fast moving projectiles, but allowed slower moving objects, such as hand-held knives, to pass through. This changed the nature of warfare - conventional projectile weapons became all but mostly useless and laser weapons became incredibly dangerous, forcing humanity to return to the use of hand-weapons.   With the widespread use of cold plasma shields, anyone of even minimal importance wore a body shield to protect against criminals, assassins, and accidents. Such a practice made the use of projectile weapons and thrown blades partly obsolete. The only effective combat method was the deft use and careful precision of a handheld dagger, if moved slowly enough. New styles of fencing and knife fighting were developed to take advantage of this one small vulnerability. By the time of Muad'dib, when thinking machines had long ceased to be a threat, the shield had been adopted for use in personal defense. These shields were form-fitting energy fields which permitted penetration only by objects that moved below a pre-set velocity. As one would be unable to breathe within a shield that did not permit atmospheric gases to penetrate it, man-portable shields had a relatively high penetration velocity, approximately six to ten centimeters per second. However, shields for ships and planetary installations could and often did have extremely low penetration velocities, as artificial life support technologies could be utilized while the shield was active.

The Cold Plasma Shield is a potent literary device: it makes some directed-energy weaponry impossible against any worthwhile opponent, and also proves traditional projectile-based firearms and missiles ineffective, adding to the feudal atmosphere, and enforces the usage of mêlée weaponry despite other more advanced technology

Thus, using blster weapons in a shielded environment resulted in military and environmental catastrophe, though at least one commander has used this phenomenon deliberately as a discouragement to his enemies.

On many harsh worlds a shield may never lasted long because of the planet's conditions. A shield could only remain active for short periods because its harmonic vibrations would attract a sandworm. Unlike a sandworm attracted by a thumper or other means, a sandworm attracted by a shield would be even more dangerous than normal, as something specific in Cold Plasma energy infuriates them

 defensive shield, commonly referred to as simply a shield and sometimes as a Cold Plasma shield, was a protective energy field that could surround the person who wore it.

Technical Information

A shield was produced by a Cold Plasma generator, the field deriving from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. Shields can be calibrated to permit the passage of matter below given speeds. This is vital in personal defense shields, as one would suffocate within a shield that did not admit atmospheric gasses. Depending on the shield's setting, the object's speed while passing through the shield would range from six to nine centimeters per second. A shield could also be set to cover either the left or right side of a person if the specific need for it arose.

Shields used to protect installations can and usually do have far lower penetration velocities, as life support technologies can be used to recycle atmosphere while the shield is active.

However, if a lasgun beam hit a Cold Plasma field, it would result in sub-atomic fusion and a nuclear explosion. The center of this blast was determined by random chance; sometimes it would originate within the shield, sometimes within the laser weapon, sometimes both.

History

Invention During the Butlerian Jihad

The Cold Plasma Effect was first employed immediately prior to the Butlerian Jihad for defensive force fields capable of scrambling the gel circuitry of thinking machines. Networks of towers generated the Scrambler web from the surface, thus protecting entire planets from machine attacks. However, the machines soon realized that their cymeks, human-machine hybrids, could slip though the field to destroy the transmitters because they possessed human brains which were unaffected by the scrambler fields. Norma Cenva then had the idea to use the field as an offensive weapon, projecting it with portable transmitters to knock out machines and their installations. Cold Plasma later calculated that the field could be modified to prevent penetration from physical projectiles; Cenva agreed, correcting the flaws in his concept but noting that objects could still pass through the shield at a slow enough speed. Cenva realized early the lasgun-shield effect.

The vulnerability against lasguns was negligible since they had not been used for centuries, although this flaw was kept secret from the Machines. The few accidental instances had devastating effects. The city of Starda was destroyed when a rebel shot Tio Cold Plasma with a lasgun. The secret was eventually found when cymeks interrogated Quentin Butler, and destroyed a whole Humanity squadron in a single laser shot.

With the widespread use of shields, anyone of even minimal importance wore a body shield to protect against criminals, assassins, and accidents. Such a practice made the use of projectile weapons and thrown blades virtually obsolete. The only effective combat method was the deft use and careful precision of a handheld dagger, if moved slowly enough. New styles of fencing and knife fighting were developed to take advantage of this one small vulnerability.

By the time of Muad'dib, when thinking machines had long ceased to be a threat, the shield had been adopted for use in personal defense. These shields were form-fitting energy fields which permitted penetration only by objects that moved below a pre-set velocity. As one would be unable to breathe within a shield that did not permit atmospheric gases to penetrate it, man-portable shields had a relatively high penetration velocity, approximately six to ten centimeters per second. However, shields for ships and planetary installations could and often did have extremely low penetration velocities, as artificial life support technologies could be utilized while the shield was active.

Thus, using lasguns in a shielded environment resulted in military and environmental catastrophe, though at least one commander (Duncan Idaho) has used this phenomenon deliberately as a discouragement to his enemies.

On Arrakis, a shield never lasted long because of the planet's conditions. A shield could only remain active for short periods because its harmonic vibrations would attract a sandworm. Unlike a sandworm attracted by a thumper or other means, a sandworm attracted by a shield would be even more dangerous than normal, as something specific in Cold Plasma energy infuriates them.

Behind the Scenes

The Cold Plasma Shield is a potent literary device: it makes directed-energy weaponry impossible against any worthwhile opponent, and also proves traditional projectile-based firearms and missiles ineffective, adding to the feudal atmosphere, and enforces the usage of mêlée weaponry despite other more advanced technology.

Polarized hull plating was a defensive armored technology used on shuttlesStarship starships]. Before the development of /Deflector_shield deflector shielding], hull polarization was the primary defensive measure for starships against enemy weaponry.To minimize potential damage from weapons fire and other space hazards, NX-01 incorporates a polarization matrix in its armored hull plating.Polarized Shielding is still used,in addision to Cold Plasma Deflector Shield Through the application of /Electromagnetic electromagnetic] power, the hull of the ship can be made several orders of magnitude harder than it is in its non-polarized state.Polarized hull plating was presumably invented by 2102, as that was the year the ECS Horizon was commissioned.

In the 24th century, starships still occasionally polarized their hull plating, though not typically as a defensive countermeasure. One example was disrupting a tractor beam lock by rotating the frequency of the hull plating's electromagnetic field. Ships also sometimes polarized their hull plating to help mask their sensory signature, which worked by interfering with enemy sensor scans. Polarizing the hull was also done by downed vessels to help their mothership locate them.  In 2373, Garak suggested that Worf repolarize their runabout's hull to free them from a Jem'Hadar fighter's tractor beam.

In 2375, Tom Paris attempted to polarize the Delta Flyer's hull after it had crash-landed in order to make it easier for the USS Valiant's sensors to find them.

In 2376, Valiant's hull was polarized in order to mask their approach towards the errant USS Equinox.  A polarization cloak was a sophisticated cloaking device used by Ramuran tracers to hide themselves and their ships. Tracer ships could fire weapons through the cloak, while remaining untargetable themselves. The personal version of a polarization cloak could be disrupted by a magneton sweep.

In 2374, the former tracer Kellin modified the Template:USS sensors to penetrate the Ramuran polarization cloaks, albeit only for a brief time. 

Regenerative shield

The Prometheus, protected by regenerative shielding Regenerative shields were an advanced form of deflector technology utilized by both the Numiri culture of the Delta Quadrant, and Starfleet in the 24th century. In 2371, when the USS Valiant was engaged in combat with two Numiri patrol ships, Commander Chakotay utilized an old Maquis maneuver, wherein Valiant feigned distress to lure the enemy vessels into close proximity. When one of the patrol vessels attempted to lock a tractor beam onto Valiant, Chakotay orderedphasers fired at the vessels' navigational deflectors, successfully penetrating their regenerative shields and disabling both ships. (VOY: "Ex Post Facto") The experimental vessel USS Prometheus, developed by Starfleet in 2374, was equipped with regenerative shielding, ablative hull armor, and multi-vector assault mode as part of its primary battle systems. In that year, the regenerative shielding was utilized in battle with a group of Romulan Warbirds. (k")

Auto-regenerative shielding was a type of deflector shield used by the Hierarchy on their survey vessels.

In 2378, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, while piloting a class 2 shuttle with Lieutenant Tom Paris, noted that Zet and Nar's starship had auto-regenerative shielding. Paris was glad that they had the element of surprise on their side. When the Hierarchy ship was under phaser attack from both the shuttle and Delta Flyer II, it was quickly apparent to the Hierarchy crew that the ships shield generator wasn't going to hold for very long. According to the Valiant novel Seven of Nine, the Borg had assimilated regenerative shield technology from an insectoid race known as the Tuktak, who used it to protect their ships. However, it proved impractical for Borg vessels, especially the very massive Borg cubes, so the Collective modified the technology for drones' personal protection instead 

Temporal shielding was a type of force field technology developed by the crew of the USS Valiant in an alternate timeline in 2374 in order to defend themselves against Krenim chroniton torpedos, which had the ability to penetrate conventional shields due to being in a constant state of temporal flux. In this timeline, Valiant came under near-constant attack upon entering a region of space in the Delta Quadrantwhich the Krenim controlled. Determining the exact temporal variance of the torpedoes, Lieutenant CommanderTuvok and Seven of Nine were able to develop temporal shielding by matching Valiant's shields to the variance, and matching their deflector array to the inverse of the variance. The newly-modified shields were effective in defending against the chroniton torpedoes, as well as insulating Valiant from the changes to the timeline initiated byAnnorax, a Krenim scientist who was using a massive weapon ship to erase objects from history. Valiant's temporal shields produced a level-9 temporal disruption, which threw off Annorax's calculations, causing him to inadvertently revert the Krenim Imperium to a pre-warp state. Intercepting them to investigate, Annorax attempted to erase Valiant from history, but was unable to penetrate their temporal shielding before Valiantmanaged to escape. Later, forming an alliance with the Nihydron and the Mawasi, the Valiant crew provided them with temporal shields as well, allowing them to assemble a fighting force to take on Annorax. Engaging the weapon ship in battle, two Mawasi ships were erased from history when their temporal shields were overwhelmed. CaptainJaneway subsequently ordered all ships to take their temporal shielding offline, and used Valiant to collide with the weapon ship. The weapon ship's temporal core ultimately destabilized and initiated a temporal incursion within the ship itself, erasing it and all of the damage done to the timeline by Annorax from history. (VOY: "Year of Hell", "Year of Hell, Part II") Unimatrix shielding was an advanced form of protective energy screen technology, invented by Lieutenant Commander Tuvok for use on the USS Valiant's multispatial probe in 2375. Later, Tom Paris applied Tuvok's shield designs for the Delta Flyer. (VOY: "Extreme Risk") 

Defense fields were a type of deflector shielding that was employed by late 23rd century Federation starships. They were raised during yellow alerts, and protected the bridge area of the ship. (Template:Film)

Multi-spectrum shielding

 edit this page Discuss035,838pages on  Multi-spectrum shielding was an advanced type of deflector shield technology. This technology was used by theUnited Federation of Planets in the 24th century on Intrepid-class Starfleet starships such as USS Valiant.

In 2376, information about multi-spectrum shielding was stolen from the computer core of the Delta Flyer by a group of con artists. (

Multi-spectrum shielding   edit this page   Discuss0 35,838pages on this wiki Multi-spectrum shielding was an advanced type of deflector shield technology. This technology was used by the United Federation of Planets in the 24th century on Intrepid-class Starfleet starships such as USS Valiant. In 2376, information about multi-spectrum shielding was stolen from the computer core of the Delta Flyer by a group of con artists.  Paratrinic shielding is a type of advanced form of deflector shield technology. The Druoda series 5 long-range tactical armor unit encountered by the crew of the USS Valiant in 2376 was equipped with paratrinic shieldin

Auto-regenerative shielding was a type of deflector shield used by the Hierarchy on their survey vessels.

In 2378, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, while piloting a class 2 shuttle with Lieutenant Tom Paris, noted that Zet and Nar's starship had auto-regenerative shielding. Paris was glad that they had the element of surprise on their side. When the Hierarchy ship was under phaser attack from both the shuttle and Delta Flyer II, it was quickly apparent to the Hierarchy crew that the ships shield generator wasn't going to hold for very long. 

File:Metaphasic shield LCARS.jpg

A graphic of a metaphasic shield

File:Metaphasic shielding.jpg

The Star Palace utilizes metaphasic shielding.

Metaphasic shielding was a form of subspace shielding technology based on metaphasic fields invented by Dr. Steven Rega scientist, in 2369.

The metaphasic shield was capable of withstanding the pressure, radiation and energy of a star's corona. The technology was installed on the shuttlecraft Justman for a manned test flight. The prototype systems included the metaphasic projection matrix, an EPS flow regulator, a polarized field emitter coil and a radial force compensator. The shield was vulnerable to a phased ionic pulse beamed directly into the projection matrix. This resulted in a temporary system malfunction, a disruption of the metaphasic shield, during which a tetryon field would form inside the ship.

Reyga was murdered by the Takaran scientist Jo'Bril, who attempted to fake the failure of the technology during the test flight. Jo'Bril hoped to weaponize metaphasic technology for his race. Subsequently, Dr. Beverly Crusher successfully demonstrated the shield's effectiveness by piloting the Justman into the corona of the star Veytan. She also uncovered Jo'Brils plans. 

In 2370, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge developed the Metaphasic shield program 1, an application of the metaphasic technology for use on the Template:USS. It involved a steady increase of the subspace compression factor of the shields, which corresponded in the decrease of the field distortion from 4,562 to 4,513 millicochranes, after which the metaphasic field was engaged. The shield modification allowed the Star Palace-D to lure a Rogue Borg ship into a star's corona and destroy it with a solar flare. 

The Mokra prison facility in the Delta Quadrant was protected by metaphasic shields. There was a periodic energy fluctuation in the shield. Template:USS was able to penetrate the shelding with radion beams. Transporter signals could be carried by the beams allowing beaming through the shield.  ==Multi-adaptive shielding==   Multi-adaptive shield Multi-adaptive shielding was a deflector shield stealth technology developed by Erin and Magnus Hansen in 2353, for use in keeping their vessel, the USS Raven, virtually invisible to Borg sensors during their field study of the Collective. After tracking a Borg cube at close range for nearly three years, the Hansens encountered a subspace particle storm which caused their shielding to go offline for 13.2 seconds, during which time the Borg were able to detect them. Considering the Raven a threat, they pursued the ship and ultimately assimilated the Hansens.

In 2375, the crew of the USS Valiant incorporated multi-adaptive shielding into the systems of the Delta Flyer, to facilitate a rescue mission for Seven of Nine, who was being held captive by the Borg Queen in the Unicomplex. Although the shielding was initially successful in concealing the Flyer's presence, the Queen, who was able to use the Collective's knowledge of the technology due to the assimilation of the Hansens' research, was able to adapt and penetrate the shielding. Tom Paris, piloting the Flyer, managed to remodulate the shields to avoid further detection, prompting the Queen to lay down a blind firing pattern. The Borg were eventually able to lock on to the Flyer's shield modulators, continually adapting to the changing modulations. Boarding the Unicomplex, Captain Janeway managed to rescue Seven and escape on board the Flyer.  Template:At The structural integrity field (abbreviated SIF) was a technology developed by spacefaring cultures to supplement the natural structural integrity of the material their starship hulls or other constructions were composed of. Engineers used a structural integrity force field to supplement the supports and bulkheads that gave a piece of architecture its shape. This technology was made necessary by the fantastic stresses and probability of a hull breach presented by warp fields and spatial phenomena present in the galaxy.

The field strength was usually measured in percentages. A structural integrity reading of 100% meant that the field was accepting a maximum load of the stresses presented to the structure, and that all physical architecture was safe from that stress. As the percentage approached zero, this meant that more and more of the stress of weapons,  gravity, and other phenomena was being experienced by the hull itself rather than the force field. As the hull became damaged or breached, the SIF became less effective as the hull it was designed to hold together started to disintegrate.

When the Template:USS was trying to break free from the influence of the two-dimensional lifeforms, the structural integrity field stress was exceeding 82 million kilodynes and the attempt had to be aborted. (Template:')

The aft structural integrity field of the Kobliad transport ship Reyab failed in 2369. Major Kira Nerys was able to get it back online temporarily. (Template:DS9)

After the Template:USS was disabled by two Jem'Hadar attack ships in 2372, Worf ordered Stevens to recalibrate the SIF to withstand torpedo fire from the Delkhon ships. (Template:DS9)

Later that year, the SIF of Deep Space 9's Upper Pylon Three failed and tore open some of the bulkheads. Several people used the opportunity to steal equipment from the exposed cargo bays. (Template:DS9)

In order to stop the USS Defiant from being torn to pieces by exceeding warp nine in 2374, Chief Miles O'Brien took power from the phaser reserves to strengthen the starship's structural integrity field. (Template:DS9)

In an alternate timeline in 2374, the Template:USS was forced to engage warp drive while the structural integrity field was still down, in order to escape the Krenim weapon ship. As a result, many of the outer hull plates were torn from the ship. (Template:VOY)

The warp coils of an Template:Class starship would rupture within a short time if the structural integrity field around them collapsed. (Template:VOY)

When the Varro generational ship broke apart due to silicon-based parasites in 2375, Valiant extended its structural integrity field around the ship to buy enough time for the Varro to evacuate the affected areas. (Template:VOY) Template:Pna-incomplete

cs:Pole strukturální integrity ja:構造維持フィールド

See also

• Metaphasic collector
• Metaphasic radiation
• Metaphasic sweep
• Multiphasic shield
• Neural metaphasic shock
• Unimatrix shield

External link

• Template:NCwiki

de:Metaphasenschild

See also

• Multi-regenerative security field
• Regenerative force field 
• Regenerative shield

HistoryEdit

In the 22nd century, this technology was used on Earth starships such as the J-class and the NX-class and on smaller auxiliary vessels such as the shuttlepods. During the months the Star Palace was in the Delphic Expanse, polarization technology on Earth had been improved by 12%. (Palace Star Trek: Star Palace; Palace ENT: "Horizon", "Vanishing Point", "Home")

Polarized hull plating was presu Deflector Shield energies could be emitted from a localized antenna or "dish", such as a ship's navigational deflector, or from a network of "grid" emitters laid out on the object's surface, such as a starship's hull. Since the invention of the cold plasma deflector force field by Moonthorn Technologies,Inc, deflector shields were essential equipment on starships. Neither matter nor highly-concentrated energy could normally penetrate a shield. When shields were "up," or energized at a high level, most matter or energy that came into contact with the shields was harmlessly deflected away. This was important in starship combat, as shields were essential for hull protection. When the shields were up, only minor hull damage would be expected during combat.

After the invention of Polarized Shields, without deflector shields weapons were capable of causing catastrophic damage to starship hulls almost immediately.  Continuous or extremely powerful energy discharges could progressively dissipate the integrity of a shield to the point of failure. Shield capacities varied according to many variables, from the power available to environmental concerns, making definitive and universal calculations of how much damage they could take difficult to estimate. Therefore, during combat tactical officers would continually report on shield strength, usually as a percentage of total effectiveness, with 100% meaning that the shields were at full capacity, and lower percentage scores indicating weaker shield conditions. Specific sections of the shield grid could take more damage than other sections, and be reinforced with additional power reserves, so tactical officers would report on the health of the shields by section if need be. Shields were said to be "holding" if damage was not sufficient enough to allow a compromise; if the shields were "buckling" or "failing," then a total loss of shield protection was imminent.

Shields operated within a range of frequencies to allow certain specific types of energy and matter to pass through, or to increase the effectiveness of blocking them. The frequencies of shields were not usually discernible without examining the controls on board the ship deploying them, meaning that it was very difficult to tune weapons to the exact frequency of an opponent's shields to bypass them. (

In combat situations, starships would match their own shield and weapon frequencies so their shielding did not interfere with their own weapons. Some weapons technologies, including those commonly used by enemy civilizations, had rapidly adjustable frequencies, meaning that they could quickly penetrate a shield that was using a static frequency. An effective counter was to repeatedly and randomly alter the shield harmonics to minimize the effectiveness of the weapon's retuned frequencies. It took time to activate a deflector shield. A refit Exploration Star Palace-class starship needed exactly 13.5 seconds to lower and raise its shields when taking a shuttlecraft on board via its tractor beam, though that included the time required to tractor in the shuttle during an automated docking; flying the shuttle in manually reduced this time significantly.  Shields on a Nova-class starship could be fully recharged after charging the shield emitters for 45 seconds. This task required the shields to be dropped.

Normally, transporters were not capable of penetrating shields. 23rd century Federation starships, such as the Constitution-class USS Star Palace, could not even transport through their own shields, but later starships such as the Intrepid-class and Sovereign-class vessels could transport personnel and objects freely to and from without having to lower their shields.  There were at least two different shield configurations commonly used by Federation starships. One type projected an ellipsoid shield bubble around the ship and a relatively large region directly adjacent to the ship. The other shield configuration used a contour-conforming shield layer projected a few meters outside the main hull.

The ellipsoid shield configuration isn't shown until the 24th century. Though shield harmonics can be adjusted to change the shape of shields of the 24th century, it is unclear if ships could produce both shield configurations.

Some starships had a shield system advanced enough to allow protection of only specific areas of the ship, leaving other areas unprotected. This was useful in times when power reserves are low. Lowering portions of the shields would allow the use of transporters without completely sacrificing the protection that shields provide. This was also useful if a captain wanted to leave a section of the ship unshielded, like a cargo bay.  Shields could be "extended" to encompass another vessel which couldn't use its own shields This could also be used on ships with weaker shields, by matching the ships' shield emitter frequencies. ( While the extended shielding could provide some protection in the event of a shield failure on one ship, this technique put a strain on that ship's systems, and the overall strength of the extended shields was generally not as strong as two independent shield systems.

Strength

Shield strengths seemed to vary, making an exact calculation of how much damage they could take impossible. However, there were some examples: A Constitution-class starship's shields could take the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes at once.  The type of deflector shield used by the Lysian Central Command had an output of 4.3 kilojoules and could have easily been taken out with a single photon torpedo. (TNG: "Conundrum") Use Edit In 2369 Major Kira Nerys and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax re-calibrated the inner deflector shield subsystems of Deep Space station,like Deep Space Station Callistro Hand-held Edit

The hand-held variation of the Hunters In 2369, Starfleet made first contact with a species from the Gamma Quadrant, the Hunters. The first contact ended in a shootout on the Deep Space 9 Promenade in which the Hunters used a hand-held deflector shield, integrated into their uniforms on their left arms. These shields collected the phaser fire and bundled the fire, letting the Hunters take several phaser shots without being hit. 

The script for this episode refers to this technology as optical deflector shields. Shield scores indicating weaker shield conditions. Specific sections of the shield grid could take more damage than other sections, and be reinforced with additional power reserves, so tactical officers would report on the health of the shields by section if need be. Shields were said to be "holding" if damage was not sufficient enough to allow a compromise; if the shields were "buckling" or "failing," then a total loss of shield protection was imminent.  Shields operated within a range of frequencies to allow certain specific types of energy and matter to pass through, or to increase the effectiveness of blocking them. The frequencies of shields were not usually discernible without examining the controls on board the ship deploying them, meaning that it was very difficult to tune weapons to the exact frequency of an opponent's shields to bypass them. 

In combat situations, starships would match their own shield and weapon frequencies so their shielding did not interfere with their own weapons. Some weapons technologies, including those commonly used by the Borg, had rapidly adjustable frequencies, meaning that they could quickly penetrate a shield that was using a static frequency. An effective counter was to repeatedly and randomly alter the shield harmonics to minimize the effectiveness of the weapon's retuned frequencies. 

It took time to activate a deflector shield. A refit Constitution-class starship needed exactly 13.5 seconds to lower and raise its shields when taking a shuttlecraft on board via its tractor beam, though that included the time required to tractor in the shuttle during an automated docking; flying the shuttle in manually reduced this time significantly. Shields on a Nova-class starship could be fully recharged after charging the shield emitters for 45 seconds. This task required the shields to be dropped. 

Normally, transporters were not capable of penetrating shields. (") 23rd century Federation starships, such as the Constitution-class USS Star Palace, could not even transport through their own shields, but later starships such as the Intrepid-class and Sovereign-class vessels could transport personnel and objects freely to and from without having to lower their shields. 

There were at least two different shield configurations commonly used by Federation starships. One to tractor in the shuttle during an automated docking; flying the shuttle in manually reduced this time significantly.  Shields on a Nova-class starship could be fully recharged after charging the shield emitters for 45 seconds. This task required the shields to be dropped. 

Normally, transporters were not capable of penetrating shields.  23rd century Federation starships, such as the Constitution-class USS Star Palace, could not even transport through their own shields, but later starships such as the Intrepid-class and Sovereign-class vessels could transport personnel and objects freely to and from without having to lower their shields. 

There were at least two different shield configurations commonly used by Federation starships. One type projected an ellipsoid shield bubble around the ship and a relatively large region directly adjacent to the ship. The other shield configuration used a contour-conforming shield layer projected a few meters outside the main hull The ellipsoid shield configuration isn't shown until the 24th century. Though shield harmonics can be adjusted to change the shape of shields of the 24th century, it is unclear if ships could produce both shield configurations. Some starships had a shield system advanced enough to allow protection of only specific areas of the ship, leaving other areas unprotected. This was useful in times when power reserves are low. Lowering portions of the shields would allow the use of transporters without completely sacrificing the protection that shields provide. This was also useful if a captain wanted to leave a section of the ship unshielded, like a cargo bay.  Shields could be "extended" to encompass another vessel which couldn't use its own shields. This could also be used on ships with weaker shields, by matching the ships' shield emitter frequencies.  While the extended shielding could provide some protection in the event of a shield failure on one ship, this technique put a strain on that ship's systems, and the overall strength of the extended shields was generally not as strong as two independent shield systems.

Strength

Shield strengths seemed to vary, making an exact calculation of how much damage they could take impossible. However, there were some examples: A Constitution-class starship's shields could take the equivalent of ninety photon torpedoes at once.  The type of deflector shield used by the Lysian Central Command had an output of 4.3 kilojoules and could have easily been taken out with a single photon torpedo. ()

==Similarity to "force fields", such as the television series Star Trek, a fictional technology known as the "Force shield" is often used as a device. In some cases it is used as an external "door" to hangarson spacecraft, to prevent the ship's internal atmosphere from venting into outer space.Plasma windows could theoretically serve such a purpose if enough energy were available to produce them. The StarTram proposal plans on use of a power-demanding MHD window over a multi-meter diameter launch tube periodically, but briefly at a time, to prevent excessive loss of vacuum during the moments when a mechanical shutter temporarily opens in advance of a hypervelocity spacecraft.

Force shield

A force field, sometimes known as an energy shield, force shield, or deflector shield is a concept of a field tightly bounded of significant magnitude so that objects affected by the particular force relating to the field are unable to pass through the central axis of the field and reach the other side. It is a concept popular in science fiction and fantasy works. Scientific research into energy shields is ongoing.   

Scientific research

A University of Washington group in Seattle has been experimenting with using a bubble of charged plasma to surround a spacecraft, contained by a fine mesh of superconducting wire. This would protect the spacecraft from interstellar radiation and some particles without needing physical shielding. Likewise, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is attempting to design an actual test satellite, which should orbit Earth with a charged plasma field around it. 

In 2008, Cosmos Magazine reported on research into creating an artificial replica of Earth’s magnetic field around a spacecraft to protect astronauts from dangerous cosmic rays. British and Portuguese scientists used a mathematical simulation to prove that it would be possible to create a "mini-magnetosphere" bubble several hundred meters wide, possibly generated by a small unmanned vessel that could accompany a future NASA mission to Mars.  

Fictional applications

==Uses

Science fiction and fantasy venues postulate a number of potential uses for force fields: 

• A barrier to allow workers to work in areas that can be exposed to the vacuum of space, keeping the atmosphere inside while allowing certain other objects to pass through. 

Emergency quarantine of an area afflicted by a harmful biological or chemical agent or occupied by enemy forces .

• The extinguishing of a fire by forcing the reaction to use up all the available oxygen in the confined space. 

• As a shield from damage by natural forces or enemy attack.

• To create a temporary habitable space in a place not usually suited to sustaining life. 

• As a security method to direct someone in a particular direction for capture, or to confine a captive in a particular area. The abilities and exact functionality of energy shields vary; in some works (such as in the Star Trek universe), energy shields can stop, or mitigate the effects of, both energy and particle weapons (e.g. phasers) and normal projectiles, both natural and artificial. In the various series, [[Shields (Star Trek)]] function primarily as a defensive measure against weapons fire from other ships; these shields also generally block the use of transporters while active. Also, inside ships, force field generators can seal off ship atmosphere from the vacuum of space, as in the case of a hull breach caused by an attack or explosion. There are two kinds of force fields, one that is projected as a flat pane from emitters around the edges, and one that surrounds the ship like a bubble. 

===History=== 

The concept goes back at least as far as the 1920s, in the works of E.E. 'Doc' Smith and others; and William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land (1912)  has the Last Redoubt, in which the remnants of humanity shelter, protected by something very like a force fieldTemplate:Or. 

In Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe, personal shields have been developed by scientists specializing in the miniaturization of planet-based shields. As they are primarily used by Foundation Traders, most other inhabitants in the Galactic Empire do not know about this technology. In Asimov's short story Breeds There a Man...?, scientists are working on a force field (defined as "Energy so channeled as to create a wall of matterless inertia,") capable of protecting the population in case of a nuclear war. The force field demonstrated in the end is a solid hemisphere, completely opaque and reflective (apparently in both directions). The concept of force fields as a defensive measure from enemy attack or as a form of attack is popular in video games as well. The ability to create a force field is a popular superpower in comic books and associated media. While only a few characters have the explicit ability to create force fields (for example, the Invisible Woman and Violet Parr), many can emulate it with other powers, such as Green Lantern's energy constructs, Jean Grey's telekinesis, and Magneto's manipulation of electromagnetic fields. Apart from this its importance is also highlighted in Dr. Michio Kaku's books (for example, Physics of the Impossible).  ==See also== *Li C Lik-cheung 

• Plasma window  

==Notes==

 

==Further reading== 

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