Designed to provide a workspace for the most hazardous of scientific study, the LSDF designed hazardous science labs are intended to be a safe location within a starship or installation to conduct potentially harmful or hazardous experiments.

Development of the hazardous science lab compartment stems back decades in recent Lorath design and study. Largely born from the propulsion labs which the Lorath used early in their work in expanding their technology, and honed further by Lorath labs dealing in antimatter, anomalous samples, and unknown lifeforms, the hazardous science lab is merely the most recent step of cautious science. Drawing from incidents such as those surrounding The Aurora Mechanism or the Sourcian Rebeka Renata, the hazardous science lab has been designed to prevent catastrophic experiment interference or collateral damage caused by the experiment itself, along with preventing unauthorized access to such experiments. Combined with the security provided, and the functions available, the hazardous science lab has also been tested and rated to be able to safely contain the explosion of an AS-7-1-TA, or to endure such an explosion from the outside.

Hazardous science lab areas are essentially complexes consisting of Medical Lab Compartments converted into Science Labs, with an extra layer of function and security.

Erected around each compartment within the hazardous science lab, and around the science lab itself is a three-stage forcefield system, each stage powered by its own independent power supply, and further augmented by a subspace dampening field and subspace enhanced forcefield system designed with the intent of keeping samples from escaping and to prevent intrusion into the lab area. Further assisting in the safety of the lab is the use of Nerimium supports and bulkheads, combined with a layering of Stone Thread insulation, with a boron-carbide layer as well.

Along with the safety provided by the structure of the lab, the lab has also been secured in its systems through the use of an independent computer system which has been designed to use a non-sentient ARIA to handle the processing and data storage needs of the lab. Further enhancing the security of the system, data access, editing, and distribution is controlled by a combination of software and hardware lockouts which use an encrypted pass-key system which is altered daily, and is again altered whenever a failed login attempt is made. Failed login attempts must be cleared by an authorized individual… namely personnel of a Vice Admiral rank, or higher, causing the pass-key to revert to what it originally was. Access to the lab itself, has also been handled in the same manner.

In the event of a catastrophic failure of an experiment, or if the experiment poses a significant threat to the Matriarchy or other allied organizations beyond the scope in which the experiment could be brought under control again, hazard labs are equipped with a dimensional displacement system. When activated, the system forces the lab complex as a whole into another dimensional layer, where it is then isolated, save for the use of a space-time anchor. When it is deemed possible for the experiment to be salvaged, the lab complex can be retrieved through the use of a Transposition Fold "Legacy" Cannon, tuned to pull the space-time anchor of the lab complex, resulting in the lab returning to normal space.