Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site

SHIP U.S.S. VOYAGER:

STARFLEET PROBES

Page 1

screenshots by Janet

 

PAGE CONTENTS
WHAT IS A PROBE? Basic Description. Size.
STANDARD INVENTORY General. USS Voyager. Deep Space Stations.
DELIVERY OF PROBES TO STARBASES AND STARSHIPS
STORAGE AND LAUNCH MECHANISMS

 

WHAT IS A PROBE?

Basic Description

The detailed examination of many objects and phenomena in galaxy can be handled routinely by a Starfleet vessel's onboard sensor arrays, up to the resolution limits of the individual instruments and to the limits of available data extraction algorithms used in extrapolating values from combinations of instrument readings. However, instrumented probes enable greater proportions of high-resolution data of selected sites to be gathered and, moreover, enable such information to be gathered by close approach and, in the case of unmanned probes, by remote control which represents an enhanced safety factor for Starfleet personnel.


telemetry of a micro-wormhole from Voyager's microprobe, as seen on Voyager's bridge's main viewscreen
(more information on Page 2: Types of Probe)
[#7 Eye Of The Needle]		Thus a Starfleet probe is basically a device fitted with a number of general purpose or mission specific sensors that can be launched from a starship for closer examination of celestial objects or for reconnaissance.

USS Voyager carries a number of instrumented probes. Telemetry from a probe can be downloaded into a starbase's or starship's computers during its mission, in real-time, or afterwards once the probe has returned, and can also be displayed on a starship's monitor displays such as the bridge's main viewscreen.

Size

Most Federation probes are about the size of a photon torpedo, and some of them, such as the Class-5, are carried within a torpedo casing [#108 Bliss].

 

STANDARD INVENTORY

General

The standard inventory varies between Starfleet facilities according to the size and nature of the scheduled assignment and local circumstances. Starbases and Deep Space stations, being larger and of intrinsically greater importance than a single Starfleet starship, will naturally carry a greater number of instrumented probes as standard; the space to store probes is also not such an issue as for mobile units such as starships, and therefore a greater number of spare probes and spare parts can be carried.
there are nine classes of Starfleet probe
(more information on Page 2: Types of Probe)

USS Voyager

On its departure from Deep Space 9 in 2371, USS Voyager carries the probe complement standard for an Intrepid-class starship. This includes at least one microprobe. The complement, including the multispatial probe constructed in the Delta Quadrant, is discussed below.

Deep Space Stations

The normal inventory of instrumented probes carried aboard Deep Space 9, from where USS Voyager set out on its mission to the Badlands in 2371, includes class-1, class-4, and class-5 probes. In addition, enough device stores and spares are maintained to fabricate class-8 and class-9 probes, which are based on the standard photon-torpedo casing. Experimental versions of class-8a and class-9a probes have undergone trials by Starfleet and have been declared provisionally operational (see Probe class specifications: class-8 and class-9 probes on Page 2). These are based on the quantum torpedo casing and take advantage of a higher delta-v sustainer engine rating. SHOW NOTE: DEFINITION OF 'DELTA-V
Deep Space 9's location is of great strategic importance, being situated in the Denorius Belt in the Bajoran star system close to the mouth of the only known stable wormhole and which enables travel between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants, but nevertheless its complement of probes is unlikely to be substantially different at other Deep Space Stations except maybe during the Dominion War (which occurred during USS Voyager's absence in the Delta Quadrant).

 

DELIVERY OF PROBES TO STARBASES AND STARSHIPS

Systems allocations to starbases such as Deep Space 9 are delivered in either completed physical form or encrypted fabrication instruction form for on-site manufacture at the station. Complete probes are off-loaded by starship or commercial freighter. It is possible that USS Voyager's complement of probes were loaded at Deep Space 9 shortly before departure for the Badlands, rather than, say, at Utopia Planitia where USS Voyager was constructed; however, it is impossible to surmise one way or the other considering the level of outfitting being carried out as seen in [#118 Relativity].
Whichever way the probes were delivered to USS Voyager, either ready for self-assembly or pre-assembled (possibly at Deep Space 9), instructions for fabrication include onboard computer programming, numerical machining algorithms, and replicator formulae, with all data being transmitted over secure channels or delivered as protected isolinear memory blocks.
All probe classes receive periodic upgrades by Starfleet's Defensive Weapons Development Laboratory. Details of upgrades of individual probe classes which have already taken place are given below in the probe class descriptions; in one instance, an upgrade involved the combination of two probe classes. Starfleet may well have sent probe upgrade data to Voyager, either incorporated with the Doctor when his program was sent by Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant in 2374, [#82 Message In A Bottle], or transmitted from late 2376 onwards (after [#144 Lifeline]) in one or more monthly datastreams sent via the MIDAS Array. While details such as uniform modifications obviously were not considered necessary (as the Voyager crew do not upgrade to the Starfleet uniforms seen, for instance, on the Project Pathfinder staff), the installation of improved technology would no doubt have been considered useful and thus very desirable.

 

STORAGE AND LAUNCH MECHANISMS

Standard torpedo launchers are utilised for all probes, with minor variations in initial accelerations, depending on payload type. Probes are sized to fit the fore and aft photon torpedo launchers of armed Starfleet space vehicles, which provides rapid times-to-target.

Certain probe classes comprise larger autonomous probes which are based upon existing shuttlecraft spaceframes which have been stripped of all personnel support systems and then densely packed with sensor and telemetry hardware. These cannot of course be launched from torpedo launchers but are stored elsewhere, but the location on board Voyager is not known. However, to facilitate quick launch times, it is likely that the same locations are used as for the larger, slightly older Galaxy-class starships (See THE STARSHIPS CALLED ENTERPRISE AND THEIR RESPECTIVE STARSHIP CLASSES, namely:

In the same way that photon torpedoes (and quantum torpedoes) can be manually launched, so can probes, but it can be a hazardous operation - when Janeway launches a photon torpedo manually in the torpedo bay area in the eventually unrealised timeline in 2373 depicted in [#50 and #51 Future's End], she receives serious burns.

Janeway configures a photon torpedo for manual launch in 2373, [#50 and #51 Future's End]


Tuvok and Kim at work modifying a photon torpedo (but not for probe work); this picture also shows the size of a photon torpedo casing in comparison with people
[#89 The Omega Directive]		 All probes are accessible to engineering crews for periodic status checks and modifications for unique applications. As regards special modifications, for example, in 2374, in [#89 The Omega Directive], Tuvok and Kim modify a photon torpedo, the work in that instance being done by senior staff due to the highly classified nature of the Omega project.

 

Next page: Types of Probe, including USS Voyager's complement