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]]'' | Planetary shields are occasionally mentioned in ''[[Star Trek]]'' but generally 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]], but it's not clear whether the shield could have withstood a determined attack.<ref>TOS "Whom Gods Destroy"</ref> [[Montgomery Scott|Commander Scott]], commanding in the absence of the [[James T. Kirk|captain]] and [[Spock|first officer]], was concerned about damaging the Elba II asylum, which was a sealed habitat in a toxic environment. Consequently, his efforts at penetrating the shield were restrained by the need to avoid rupturing the asylum. | |||
* The Federation penal colony on the planet Tantalus V was protected by a force field that transport function, but no attempt was made to defeat the fied with starship weaponry. <ref>TOS "Dagger of the Mind"</ref> | |||
* The | * The Federation science outpost on Calder II nad a deflector shield to protect it and the archeological ruins being studied there, but there was no indication that this shield protected the entire planet. Phaser fire from a single mercenary starship was capable of defeating the shield (albeit using trickery known to a [[Jean-Luc Picard|Federation starship captain]]). <ref>TNG "Gambit, Part I", "Gambit, Part II"</ref> | ||
* [[Chakotay]] told Annorax that if [[Kathryn Janeway|Captain Janeway]] had given other ships temporal shielding technology, they would have shared it with their home worlds, which would be able to protect their planets from the Krenim time ship's temporal weapon. This suggests that such planets had the ability to shield entire planets, but it's not clear whether the temporal shielding technology in question has similar resource requirements to energy weapon shields.<ref>VOY "Year of Hell, part II"</ref> | |||
* | |||
* Chakotay | |||
== Planetary Shields Outside the Federation == | == Planetary Shields Outside the Federation == | ||
Revision as of 14:58, 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 generally 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, but it's not clear whether the shield could have withstood a determined attack.[1] Commander Scott, commanding in the absence of the captain and first officer, was concerned about damaging the Elba II asylum, which was a sealed habitat in a toxic environment. Consequently, his efforts at penetrating the shield were restrained by the need to avoid rupturing the asylum.
- The Federation penal colony on the planet Tantalus V was protected by a force field that transport function, but no attempt was made to defeat the fied with starship weaponry. [2]
- The Federation science outpost on Calder II nad a deflector shield to protect it and the archeological ruins being studied there, but there was no indication that this shield protected the entire planet. Phaser fire from a single mercenary starship was capable of defeating the shield (albeit using trickery known to a Federation starship captain). [3]
- Chakotay told Annorax that if Captain Janeway had given other ships temporal shielding technology, they would have shared it with their home worlds, which would be able to protect their planets from the Krenim time ship's temporal weapon. This suggests that such planets had the ability to shield entire planets, but it's not clear whether the temporal shielding technology in question has similar resource requirements to energy weapon shields.[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 at least withstand approximately 3.5 minutes of continuous bombardment from a D-5 battlecruiser's main disruptors.[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]