Cloaking device Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
In the fictional Star Trek and Star Wars universes, a cloaking device is an advanced stealth system which causes a spaceship to be invisible and extremely difficult to detect with normal sensors. However, the idea of a cloaking device could be extended to any object and is not restricted simply to spacecraft.
The devices were first introduced and used by the Romulans in the original series episode "Balance of Terror". The invisibility came as a surprise to the crew of the starship Enterprise, who considered it only a theoretical possibility. In a later episode, the Enterprise is sent on a mission to capture one of the devices.
It was next seen in being used by Klingons. To explain this, fans have speculated that as part of an earlier mentioned Romulan-Klingon alliance, the cloaking device was given to the Klingons in return for warp drive. Critics of this theory point out that it requires the Romulans to have fought an interstellar war without faster than light drives, although it is now known that the Romulans used a quantum singularity drive in which a micro-blackhole like object is used to propel ships to faster than light speeds. The Enterprise episode "Minefield" shows cloak-using Romulans far away from home. Certainly the alliance existed, and Romulans were seen using Klingon ships (leading some fans to theorise it was this ship type, the D-7 that was traded to the Romulans instead of a warp drive), as stated in "The Enterprise Incident".
Cloaking is not perfect. In "Balance of Terror", the Enterprise was still able to detect the Romulan ship on motion sensors, and in the ' episode "The Search" we learn that running at a high warp speed may allow detection. The biggest weakness is that the device has such high power demand, it must be deactivated for a ship to enter combat. Thus, an alert enemy can target it normally when the ship decloaks. A major plot element of ' was the invention of a new type of cloaking device that would allow firing whilst cloaked. However, when it was learned that ships using that type of cloaking device could be tracked via gas exhaust from the ship while firing, the technology soon fell out of regular use.
In the episode "Redemption", the Federation discovers a way to use nets of tachyon beams to set traps for cloaking ships. As detection methods advance, so too do cloaking devices.
Many have wondered that after Kirk captured a cloaking device, why the Federation have not used them on their ships. Gene Roddenberry claimed that this is because Starfleet are scientists and not sneaks. Eventually the Federation signed a peace agreement in 2311, the Treaty of Algeron, in which they promised not to develop cloaking technology (The Pegasus.) Satisfied that the Federation would not develop threatening technology, the Romulans then turned their attentions inward, and for the most part withdrew from galactic affairs for nearly fifty years.
The Next Generation also featured phased cloaking experiments that differed from traditional cloaking techniques. In "The Next Phase", Geordi LaForge and Ro Laren are accidentally cloaked when helping a Romulan ship secretly testing phased cloaking. This technology was different in that it was capable of acting on a personal scale, did not require a cloaking device to stay cloaked, and allowed the cloaked people to pass through solid objects. Geordi and Ro were able to see and communicate with one another though and they discovered, with Data's help, how to detect and deactivate such cloaking. "The Pegasus" also speculated on a phased cloaking experiment performed by Starfleet that had gone bad similar to Starfleet's previous experiments with a Transwarp drive using the new (at the time) Excelsior class starship.
In Deep Space Nine, the Romulan Empire allowed the Starfleet to place a cloaking device on board the USS Defiant. Originally, the Federation was only allowed to use the device in Gamma Quadrant space, in exchange for any Federation intelligence gathered from the Defiant. However, that restriction soon was regularly ignored by Captain Sisko, who used the device to hide from Klingon vessels during the brief breakdown in relations between those two powers. It was also discovered that the Dominion could detect a cloaked ship by scanning the area with an anti-proton beam. It's not clear if the Federation is still prohibited from using cloaking technology, or if the two powers have since signed a new agreement regarding such technology.
In Nemesis the Remans developed a new cloaking device which was impenetrable to Federation scans. This was employed on Shinzon's ship the Scimitar. Like the Klingon ship in Star Trek VI, the Scimitar had the ability to fire while cloaked. The Reman ship's cloak was penetrated by telepathy.
Cloaking devices play a much less significant role in the Star Wars universe. None of the movies show a ship cloaking. The first Star Wars reference to cloaking devices is heard in The Empire Strikes Back when Captain Needa states that the Millennium Falcon is too small to be equipped with a cloaking device. In comparison, Star Trek cloaking devices are equippable on spaceships even smaller than the Falcon. The only other Star Wars movie that mentions a cloaking device is The Phantom Menace, but again only in passing. Expanded universe Star Wars books and games have included and elaborated upon cloaking devices. The plot of the Rebel Assault II video game concentrates on the danger presented by a type of TIE Fighter that can cloak.
The Star Wars universe's cloaking devices were a major element of the "Thrawn Trilogy": it was explained that cloaking devices in the Star Wars galaxy are much more technologically limited and were never really put into widespread use, just limited to a few prototypes. The key difference is that the Star Trek cloaking device allows a cloaked ship to use its external sensors and maneuver, even if it cannot fire due to power demands. However, the Star Wars cloaking device renders a ship effectively "double-blind"; a ship using a cloaking device can sense nothing about its surroundings. Although a cloaked ship could fire while cloaked, it would be firing blindly and the probability of hitting its target would be minimal to the point of impracticality. Worse, basic navigation was impossible, and a cloaked ship might end up fatally ramming an enemy ship or a friendly ship. Communication with a cloaked ship is also impossible.
Deemed too impractical to ever be of any use, cloaking devices were never widespread in the Star Wars universe. Using the insane Dark Jedi Master Joruus C'baoth, Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn successfully implemented a plan whereby C'baoth would use the Force to communicate with the firing crews on cloaked dreadnoughts, allowing him to A) fool the New Republic into thinking he had developed a practical cloaking device, which he had not, and B) in the ingenious conquest of the planet Ukio with its defenses intact. Ukio was an important foodstuff-producing plant vital to Thrawn's plans to rapidly expand his forces with clones, and when his fleet advanced Ukio activated their planetary shields, rendering them impervious to orbital bombardment. However, Thrawn had already positioned cloaked dreadnoughts beneath the planetary shield, and using C'baoth's communication with the cloaked ships, he executed an incredibly well timed maneuver: his Star Destroyers would fire at ground targets that were directly underneath the cloaked dreadnoughts; the Star Destroyer fire would be deflected by the shield, but C'baoth would order the cloaked ships to fire a split second later: to the observers on the ground, it appeared that the Star Destroyers were firing through the planetary shield, and Thrawn fooled them into thinking this was some sort of new superweapon which they had no defense against. The government of Ukio then contacted Thrawn and surrendered, with their planetary defenses fully intact for Thrawn to take control of. However, the ruse was eventually revealed, and with the death of C'baoth, cloaking devices were again rendered impractical for widespread deployment.
See also: Physics and Star Trek, Physics and Star Wars, Invisibility
This is an Article on Cloaking device. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Cloaking device Star Trek cloaking device
Star Wars cloaking device