Structural integrity field

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A structural integrity field (SIF) is technological advance in the Star Trek science fiction universe. It is a forcefield that maintains exactly what it says it maintains. The idea was developed when Star Trek senior illustrator/designer Rick Sternbach made a scale image of the starship Enterprise-D against the Paramount Studios lot and everyone realized that, actually, the ship was rather large; it would probably need artificial augmentation to keep from being destroyed by acceleration to warp speed. Hence, the structural integrity field.