franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

11.0 TACTICAL SYSTEMS11.1 PHASERS11.1 PHASERSEven before the development of true interstellar spacecraftby various cultures, it was clear that directed-energydevices would be necessary to assist in clearing gas, dust,and micrometeoroid material from vehicle flight paths.Emerging space-faring races are continuing to employ thismethod as an excellent maximizer of shipboard energy budgets,because a relatively small energy expenditure producesa large result. Material in space can be vaporized, ionized,and eliminated as a hazard to spaceflight. It did not take anenormous leap of imagination, of course, to realize thatdirected energy could also prove to be an effective weaponsystem.The lead defensive system maintained by StarfleetCommand for sublight use for the last century is the phaser,the common term for a complicated energy release processdeveloped to replace pure EM devices such as the laser, andparticle beam accelerators. Phaser is something of a holdoveracronym, PHASed Energy Rectification, referring to theoriginal process by which stored or supplied energy enteringthe phaser system was converted to another form for releasetoward a target, without the need for an intermediate energytransformation. This remains essentially true in the currentphaser effect.Phaser energy is released through the application of the• Battle Section aft array (P/S)• Nacelle pylon array (P/S)rapid nadion effect (RNE). Rapid nadions are short-livedsubatomic particles possessing special properties related tohigh-speed interactions within atomic nuclei. Among theseproperties is the ability to liberate and transfer strong nuclearforces within a particular class of superconducting crystalsknown as fushigi-no-umi. The crystals were so named whenit appeared to researchers at Starfleet's Tokyo R&D facilitythat the materials being developed represented a virtual "seaof wonder" before them.SHIPBOARD PHASERSAs installed in the Galaxy class, the main ship's phasersare rated as Type X, the largest emitters available for starshipuse. Individual emitter segments are capable of directing 5.1megawatts. By comparison, the small personal phasersissued to Starfleet crew members are Type I and II, the latterbeing limited to 0.01 MW. Certain large dedicated planetarydefense emitters are designated as Type X+, as their exactenergy output remains classified. The Galaxy class supportstwelve phaser arrays in two sizes, located on both dorsal andventral surfaces, as well as two arrays for lateral coverage.A typical large phaser array aboard the USS Enterprise,such as the upper dorsal array on the Saucer Module,consists of two hundred emitter segments in adense linear arrangementfor optimal control of firing order, thermal effects,field halos, and target impact. Groups of emitters are suppliedby redundant sets of energy feeds from the primary trunks ofSaucer Module dorsal array •Saucer Module ventral array 11.1.1 Phaser bank emplacements (starboard elevation)