SHIELDS (STAR TREK)

In the Star Trek fictional universe, 'shields' refer to a 23rd and 24th century technology that protects starships, space stations, and planets from damage by natural hazard or enemy attack. Synonyms include "deflectors", "deflector shields", and "screens".
Like most technologies in the Star Trek fictional universe, the exact nature of how shields work is never directly cited. Characters discuss the existence and manipulation of these technologies while only superficially explaining the exact physics behind them. This also provides a convenient deus ex machina device for writers.
Visuals in LCARS displays and various accounts by characters imply that deflector shields operate by emitting a layer of energy distortion containing a high concentration of gravitons around the object (such as a ship, a city, etc.) to be protected. Shield energies can 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 ship's hull).
The term "shields" first appears in TOS: "Arena", when the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) raises its shields after being attacked by an alien warship of unknown origin. Shields are not used by Starfleet at the time of ''; Starfleet ships of that time period use "polarized hull plating", in effect an energy charge applied to a ship's armor to make it more resistant to weapons fire. However, some alien powers were known to use primitive shielding systems.
Shields can be lessened by repeated attacks, and can go offline completely. Prolonged exposure to hazards weakens the shields and may eventually cause them to collapse.^[1][2]

Contents

Use

References

See also

External links

Use

The most commonly seen use of shields is to protect the ship and crew against enemy attacks.
In , the ''Enterprise'' crew is able to remotely lower USS ''Reliant'''s shields by the latter's "prefix code".
The Duras sisters penetrate the USS ''Enterprise''-D's shields by matching their torpedo frequency to the ''Enterprise'''s shield frequency.^[3]
Changing shield modulations can prolong the amount of time it takes the Borg to penetrate the shields.^[4] Changing both the shield size and frequency can similarly momentarily ward off the Paxans.^[5]
Shields can prevent some transporter use, although there are workarounds, such as matching transporter harmonics to shield frequency.^[6]

References

★ Drexler, Doug; & Sternbach, Rick; & Zimmerman, Herman (1998). ''.'' Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-01563-X.

★ Okuda, Michael; & Sternbach, Rick (1991). ''. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-70427-3.

★ StarTrek.com Technology Library

See also

★ Deflector shield

★ Force field

External links