Containment Field

A containment field is essentially a force field used to prevent the escape of matter or antimatter.

Containment fields were usually raised when cargo bay or shuttlebay doors were opened to keep them pressurized, although the containment field was partially disengaged when a shuttlecraft passed through it. Unfortunately, eighteen engineers from the crew of the USS Yamato were killed when the containment fields in a shuttlebay failed after the ship was infected with an Iconian software transmission. (TNG: "Contagion") A containment field could be manually activated and deactivated should the need arise. (TNG: "Disaster") Containment fields would be used by Starfleet personnel to isolate an area for investigation, such as using a field to isolate a transporter room pad to beam aboard a sample of an object. (VOY: "Death Wish")

Containment fields could also be used to reinforce antimatter containment, although they could not prevent an impending warp core breach. Lieutenant Commander Data raised a level 3 containment field around the warp core of the Enterprise-D in 2369 when the ship was facing destruction by a core breach. (TNG: "Timescape") By 2379, it was a standard procedure on the USS Enterprise for the warp core to be reinforced by a high-level force field before engaging in battle. (Star Trek Nemesis)

In an alternate timeline Miles O'Brien tried to create a sort of a containment field in sickbay to retain Benjamin Sisko on the station. He was unable to and Sisko went into the temporal displacement again. (DS9: "The Visitor")

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