Life support system

AT: "xx"

A graphic of the life support plasma flow system

For the DS9 episode with a similar title, please see "Life Support".

Life support system, or environmental control system (ECS), was one of the most crucial systems aboard any spacecraft.

Life support systems were in use as late as the late 20th century, when recyclic life support systems were planned for the Millennium Gate. (VOY: "11:59") As spacecraft became more advanced, life support sytems began including artificial gravity and inertial damper controls. When main and auxiliary powers failed aboard a starship, the system received power from batteries. In the most critical cases, a safeguard in the computer ordered the evacuation of the ship in question. (TOS: "The Cage"; VOY: "The Haunting of Deck Twelve") Aboard some vessels, the imminent failure of the life support system constituted a blue alert situation. (TNG: "Brothers")

Travis Mayweather and his father once experienced aboard a vessel when the power generator went offline, grav-plating and life support went down. (ENT: "The Catwalk")

Life support systems and pressure domes could be used to make a class K planet more hospitable for Humans. (TOS: "I, Mudd") A key component in 23rd century life support systems was the mineral topaline. (TOS: "Friday's Child")

In the distress call from a Romulan warbird in 2369 which the USS Enterprise-D received, the status of the Romulan ship was included. Their life support systems were failing. (TNG: "Timescape")

Atmospheric controls on the USS Enterprise

The same year, the runabout USS Ganges returned from a routine mission in the Gamma Quadrant to Deep Space 9 because their life support was failing and the oxygen levels had dropped dangerously low. (DS9: "Q-Less")

Major Kira Nerys and Doctor Julian Bashir responded to a priority one distress signal from the Kobliad transport ship Reyab whose life support and central power linkage was failing. (DS9: "The Passenger")

Major Kira reported that life support was functioning normally after DS9 was hit by a gravimetric disruption caused by a nearby subspace rupture. (DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses")

Before its atmospheric dome was added, Internment Camp 371 relied on life support systems in its walls to provide atmosphere. Enabran Tain used the old systems to send a message to Elim Garak in 2373. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light", "Inquisition")

After leaving Empok Nor, the Cardassians deactivated its life support systems. (DS9: "Empok Nor")

In the Battle of Sector 001, the USS Defiant lost its life support systems in the fight against the Borg. The Defiant crew, including Worf, was then beamed aboard the USS Enterprise-E. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Hirogen body armor had internal life support and could protect a Hirogen hunter while seeking prey in most hostile environments, including the surface of a collapsed star. (VOY: "Prey")

A Federation Intrepid-class starship had tricyclic life support systems. (VOY: "Drone")

It appears that even when life support systems were disabled, it was still possible to maintain life aboard a starship for a limited period of time, using the oxygen that was already in the atmosphere. (ENT: "Exile")

In the alternate reality, the life support systems of Constitution-class^[!] starships were controlled by a life support center located aft of the warp nacelles. If these systems were destroyed, there was no backup system in place. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

In an ultimately unused line of dialogue from the final draft script of ENT: "Similitude", a comatose Charles Tucker III was referred to, by Doctor Phlox, as being "on full autonomic life support". As evidenced by the same teleplay, an array of life support and monitoring equipment was scripted to be shown in "Similitude", connected to a fetus in a birthing tank. In the final version of the episode, though, this scripted collection of equipment does not appear.