Class 4 probe

A class 4 probe

A class-4 probe was a type of probe utilized by the Federation for conducting close-range scientific research.

In 2369, Benjamin Sisko wanted to use a class-4 probe to make a full analysis of a subspace rupture that appeared off of Deep Space 9. (DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses")

A class-4 probe was also launched the same year by the ship to investigate a molecular reversion field encountered by the shuttlecraft Feynman. (TNG: "Rascals") The USS Enterprise-D also launched a series of class-4 probes to study the far side of a newly-discovered Dyson sphere, after the rescue of Montgomery Scott from the USS Jenolan. (TNG: "Relics")

In 2371, the USS Voyager launched a class-4 microprobe to provide a distraction while healing the nucleogenic cloud being. (VOY: "The Cloud")

Later that year, Voyager launched a class-4 probe in an attempt to distract a large, aggressive space-dwelling lifeform. The probe though only seemed to make it angrier. (VOY: "Elogium")

In 2372, a Jadzia Dax proposed using a class-4 probe to test whether an artificial wormhole, created by Lenara Kahn and her team, was stable enough to allow starship travel. Dax believed this class of probe would provide a more accurate assessment because its shielding was similar to that on a starship. (DS9: "Rejoined")

In 2373, a class-4 probe was used to transmit a location signal, as well as several farewell recording from the crew of the Defiant, after being trapped behind an energy barrier surrounding the planet Gaia. (DS9: "Children of Time")

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (p. 116), the class-4 probe is a stellar encounter probe. It is a modified class-3 probe with extended fuel supply allowing a 3,500,000 km range and propulsion supplemented with a driver coil. Sensors include triple redundant stellar field and particle detectors and a stellar atmosphere analysis suite. The probe is also equipped with six ejectable subprobes.