I seem to recall hearing about "navigational shields" on a Trek show
once. NavShields would certainly mitigate the effects of dust and other
small particles, small being relative to the amount of power dumped
into the shields.
---- Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu> wrote:
"Magic" - Star Trek/Star Wars, you have some sort of drive that makes
space look like nothing.
At some point, relativity gets involved and you start having
to crank in time dilation, redshift/blueshift, and similar effects.
At some point, very fast (relative to you) dust particles hitting you
become fatal projectiles; likewise normal light photons blue-shifted
up to the gamma radiation range. Apparently, "magic" drives overcome
both of these effects and probably many others.