Stellar Re-Ignition

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Stellar Re-Ignition1

The Federation has several times experimented with or encountered technologies capable of affecting the function of an entire star. The first time that Federation personnel were directly involved in such efforts was in 2367, when the USS Enterprise-D assisted Dr. Timicin in his efforts to modify the Kaelon star. The star had been gradually shutting down for generations, and Timicin believed that he had a method of revitalising itusing helium fusion enhancement. Although the Federation had little hand in developing the science behind the effort, they did provide the method of applying the process to a star on a practical scale, and located a suitable star to test the process on.1

On Stardate 44805.3 the test was carried out; a series of photon torpedoes was fired into the star's core, boosting the fusion reaction back to normal levels. Although initial results seemed promising, the star quickly ran out of control and went supernova shortly afterwards. Timicin's subsequent analysis showed that the problem was caused by significant neutron migration within the inner core, a problem he thought would be quite correctible given enough time to work on it. Unfortunately Timicin was not able to follow up on his work as he died shortly afterwards.1

The Federation had its own attempt at controlling stars in 2370. Professor Gideon Seyetik planned to re-ignite the dead star using a protomatter device. He planned to use a shuttlepod to deliver the protomatter into the star, which he believed would start a cascade effect that would transforming the star carbon and oxygen into elemental hydrogen. In the event, Seyetik chose to pilot the shuttlepod himself, committing suicide because of family issues. The process was successful, and Epsilon-119 did indeed re-ignite. Seyetik's last words were "Let there be light!"2

Yellow text = Canon source

Green text = Backstage source

Cyan text = Novel

White text = DITL speculation

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1	TNG	4	Half a Life
2	DS9	2	Second Sight

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Last updated : 1 Jan 1970

Series:	TNG Season 4 (Disc 5)
Source:	Half a Life

Series:	DS9 Season 2 (Disc 3)
Source:	Second Sight