Difference between revisions of "Planetary shield"
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==Planetary Shields in ''Star Trek''== | ==Planetary Shields in ''Star Trek''== | ||
Planetary shields are occasionally mentioned in ''[[Star Trek]]'', but | Planetary shields are occasionally mentioned in ''[[Star Trek]]'', but some are not powerful enough to protect an entire planet from a major attack. The planet Elba II had a planetary shield that blocked [[transporter]] function and could withstand fire from at least one [[Constitution-class|''Constitution''-class]] [[starship]] aimed at it's weakest point on the far side of the planet. <ref>TOS "Whom Gods Destroy"</ref>; but while no other planetary shield under [[Federation]] control have been explicitly mentioned, there are strong indictations that planetary shields do exist elsewhere in the Federation have been observed: | ||
* The Tantalus colony was a Federation penal colony, located on planet Tantalus V, that served as a that served as a prison and hospital during the late 23rd century. Violent criminals were imprisoned there for rehabilitation. The facility was protected from unauthorized transport by a force field of unknown size, but was extensive enough that Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Helen Noel where unable to simply go up to the surface and walk out from under it's influence, and no one on the ''Enterprise'' suggested rescuing the two stranded officers by beaming a security detail to another location on the planet and then have them walk in underneath it to the colony. It is also unknown if weapons fire from a captial ship would sufficent to overcome the force field. <ref>TOS "Dagger of the Mind"</ref> | * The Tantalus colony was a Federation penal colony, located on planet Tantalus V, that served as a that served as a prison and hospital during the late 23rd century. Violent criminals were imprisoned there for rehabilitation. The facility was protected from unauthorized transport by a force field of unknown size, but was extensive enough that Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Helen Noel where unable to simply go up to the surface and walk out from under it's influence, and no one on the ''Enterprise'' suggested rescuing the two stranded officers by beaming a security detail to another location on the planet and then have them walk in underneath it to the colony. It is also unknown if weapons fire from a captial ship would be sufficent to overcome the force field. <ref>TOS "Dagger of the Mind"</ref> | ||
Revision as of 01:30, 5 February 2010
A planetary shield is a system that projects a single force field that encompasses a planet or projects multiple interlocking fields that provide significant planetary coverage. The shield exists to protect the planet from attack by space ships and other phenomena, although the degree of protection varies.
Planetary Shields in Star Wars
A planetary shield in Star Wars is a roughly-spherical shape that encompasses an entire planet, protecting it from orbital bombardment. Several references to planetary shielding technology and its effects are made throughout the Star Wars film-canon.
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
In perhaps the most spectacular demonstration of a planetary shield's power, the destruction of the planet Alderaan shows the 'breaking point' of a core-world's planetary shield. The Death Star I fires its planet destroying superlaser at Alderaan, a beam with a calculated energy of 1E38 J. This energy beam strikes the planetary shield, but the planet does not begin to sustain damage for another tenth of a second. This means that, before giving out, the shield was able to dissipate 1E37 J of energy.
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
In Star Wars V, the Rebel Alliance is able to utilize a partial planetary shield to protect them from the Imperial Star Destroyers' bombardment for some time during the Battle of Hoth.
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
This establishes the range of the shield-net itself. A planetary shield generator is employed on the sanctuary moon of Endor, prior to the Battle of Endor. The shield not only extends to the upper atmosphere of the moon, but all the way out into space to entirely encompass the Death Star II as well. Aboard Home One, during the briefing given to the pilots prior to the attack on the Death Star II, a holographic projection of the shield indicates that it does indeed reach out in a conical structure to surround the orbiting Death Star.
Further, in the novelization, it is shown that when a ship crashes into this planetary shield the collision destroys the ship.
Planetary Shields in Star Trek
Planetary shields are occasionally mentioned in Star Trek, but some are not powerful enough to protect an entire planet from a major attack. The planet Elba II had a planetary shield that blocked transporter function and could withstand fire from at least one Constitution-class starship aimed at it's weakest point on the far side of the planet. [1]; but while no other planetary shield under Federation control have been explicitly mentioned, there are strong indictations that planetary shields do exist elsewhere in the Federation have been observed:
- The Tantalus colony was a Federation penal colony, located on planet Tantalus V, that served as a that served as a prison and hospital during the late 23rd century. Violent criminals were imprisoned there for rehabilitation. The facility was protected from unauthorized transport by a force field of unknown size, but was extensive enough that Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Helen Noel where unable to simply go up to the surface and walk out from under it's influence, and no one on the Enterprise suggested rescuing the two stranded officers by beaming a security detail to another location on the planet and then have them walk in underneath it to the colony. It is also unknown if weapons fire from a captial ship would be sufficent to overcome the force field. [2]
- At least a partial planetary shield was employed on Calder II to protect the Federation science outpost and the archeological ruins being studied there. The deflector shield there was large enough in coverage that no one on mercenary Arctus Baran's privateer starship suggested beaming to location where they could simply walk in and steal the artifacts he and his crew had been hired to obtain. [3]
- Chakotay tells Annorax that if Captain Janeway has given other ships temporal shielding that they have undoubtedly informed their home worlds, and will be able to protect their planets from the Krenim time ship's temporal weapon. This indicates that relatively less advanced factions have have planetary shields, and by extension it is likely the Federation does as well. [4]
Planetary Shields Outside the Federation
- In the 2150's, The Klingon outpost and colony of Qu'vat had at least a partial planetary shield to protect it, which could withstand continuous bombardment from a D-5 battlecruiser's disruptors over several minutes. [5]
- The planet Aldea had a planetary shield that could block transport and cloak the planet, but it was never tested against weaponry. Furthermore, the planetary cloaking shield was an advanced alien technology that the Federation has not successfully reproduced.[6]
- In the Delta quadrant, the Federation starship USS Voyager encountered the Kraylor whose homeworld has a planetary shield grid that is capable of not only repelling energy weapons, but also prevents ships from physically reaching the surface. [7]