Primary Systems

Those systems necessary to the safe and expedient operation of a ship or station are called Primary systems. These include the propulsion and power generation systems, the hull and it's structure, the defensive systems, life support and environmental systems, and the computer. All effort is made to keep these systems in operating order and they are given priority when damage occurs. Priority within the primary systems is the same as above. Serious damage to any of these systems can cause the ship or station to be abandoned if not destroyed.

Hull and Structure

Insure through computer diagnostics and visual inspections that the hull is within Starfleet guidelines. Maintain checks on baron particle buildup. Check for the integrity of the waveguides of various systems within the structural members [this includes Structural Integrity Field Waveguides as well as the Deflector Grid]. Waveguides must not only properly transmit the fields for the SIF and deflector systems, but thermal and radioactive energies from inside and outside of the ship as well. Damage to substrate segments of the hull can only be repaired at starbase or station facilities. Erosion by micrometeoroid impacts is normally kept to a minimum by the deflector systems, but after an average of 7.2 standard years 30% of the leading-edge segments need replacement.

Structural Integrity Field

Structural Integrity Field is needed to keep the ships hull and structural integrity stable during high speeds and erratic maneuvers. The Structural Integrity Field is use to support the space frame of the vessel. The system provides a series of force fields that compensate for the propulsive and other structural loads. The SIF applies energy directly to the field conductive elements within the space frame and increases the load bearing capacity of the structure. Coolant levels, pressure, and temperature of each SIF generator must be monitored. After the normal duty cycle of 36 hours, a nominal 24-hour period of degauss [meaning: demagnetization] and scheduled maintenance time follows. Graviton polarity sources have a 1’500 hour operation rating between servicing of the superconductive elements.

Inertial Damping Field

Inertial Damping Field is the system that allows a ship to travel at high acceleration/decelerations (Impulse/Warp) while keeping the crew safe and maintaining the ship’s structural integrity. This is due to the fact that without the IDF those onboard the ship or the ship itself would not be able to withstand the stress of the high G forces. The Inertia Damping Field operates in parallel with the SIF system. This system generates a controlled series of variable-symmetry force fields that serve to absorb the inertial forces of space flight. Duties include regular maintenance of the waveguides [which are separate from the SIF waveguides] and gravity plates. Coolant level, pressure, and temperature for each generator must be checked. After the normal duty cycle of 48 hours, a nominal 12-hour period of degauss and scheduled maintenance follows. Graviton polarity sources are rated for 2,500 hours of operation between routine servicing of superconductive elements.

Deflector Systems

The Navigational Deflector is used to push objects from the path of the ship. These objects could range from as small as an atom or micrometeoroid particles to rare but more hazardous larger objects such as asteroids. Navigational Deflector is a series of high power graviton polarity source generators. Each generator is a cluster of six 128 MW graviton polarity sources feeding a pair of 550 millicochrane subspace field distortion amplifiers. The dish is steerable under automatic computer control using electrofluidic servers capable of deflecting the dish on a z-axis by varying amounts dependent upon ship class. The Deflector System must be kept in proper alignment; Flight Control, Science, and Tactical rely on the deflector system to help supplement scans from the various sensors. Proper alignment is also required for the long-range sensors to function properly. The Deflector Dish or Deflector Grid [depends on the ship] should be maintained to a completely intact state so that no gaps occur in the field. Generator maintenance should be regular. The graviton polarity source should be replaced within a reasonable operational time period. The diagnostics of the Navigational deflector are

an automatic computer function. Alignment is done via human input into the computer.