Probe

A 22nd century probe

A probe launched by the USS Defiant in 2371

The Mark V torpedo casing of a solar probe in 2371 behind Data

You may be looking for the Pocket Books novel, Probe.

A probe was an automated spacecraft used to gather information. Probes were often used for tasks that starships were not suited to handle.

Such tasks included:

• Collecting information in environments that were too small for starships to examine
• Collecting information in environments that were too dangerous for starship to examine
• Extreme long-term deep space exploration
• Recording and transmitting remote sensor telemetry to a starship or base that is occupied with other mission objectives.

The United Earth Space Probe Agency (or UESPA) was an Earth organization responsible for the exploration of space during the early 22nd century, and was later combined with Starfleet. (ENT: "Demons")

Some probes used by Starfleet were modified photon torpedo casings with extended sensor equipment and no warhead. (TNG: "The Emissary"; Star Trek Generations) Deep space probes had casings that contained radioactive material that could potentially contaminate the biosphere of planets if they crash landed on the surface. (TNG: "Thine Own Self")

Two probes were deployed by the USS Enterprise-D to scan the region of space close to a cosmic string, which led to the discovery of a species of two-dimensional lifeforms. (TNG: "The Loss")

A probe was launched by the Enterprise-D to follow the radioactive trail left behind by the Kataan probe, in order to trace its origins. (TNG: "The Inner Light")

It was speculated that a small glowing ball of energy that left a spatial rupture created by solanogen-based lifeforms shortly before it was closed was a probe of some kind. (TNG: "Schisms")

A probe was launched by the USS Defiant into the corona of the Trialan sun in order to scan the sun's core. (DS9: "Meridian")

Probe was also the designation of some manned space craft, such as the Borg probe, a starship class used by the Borg Collective, (VOY: "Dark Frontier") and the Earth-Saturn probe, the first manned flight to Saturn. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")

Starfleet probe classes

The class-1, class-3 and scanner probes shared a similar structure

A class-2 probe

File:Class 5 probe.jpg

A class-5 probe

A class-8 probe

An atmospheric probe

File:Multispatial probe, Extreme Risk.jpg

The advanced multispatial probe

• Class-1 probe
  • TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease"
  • TNG: "Time Squared"
  • TNG: "Pen Pals"
  • TNG: "The Defector"
  • TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise"
• Class-2 probe
  • TNG: "The Most Toys"
  • DS9: "Battle Lines"
• Class-3 probe
  • TNG: "The Enemy"
• Class-4 probe
  • TNG: "Relics"
  • DS9: "If Wishes Were Horses"
• Class-5 probe
  • TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I"
  • VOY: "False Profits"
• Class-6 probe (see: Warning buoy)
• Class-7 probe (see: Reconnaissance probe)
• Class-8 probe
  • TNG: "The Emissary"
• Class-9 probe (see: Log buoy)
• Class-A probe
  • TNG: "Ship in a Bottle"

Other Federation probes

• Atmospheric probe (DS9: "Starship Down")
• Deep space probe (TNG: "Thine Own Self")
  • Quadros 1 (DS9: "Emissary")
  • Vega 9 (TNG: "Tin Man")
• Interface probe (TNG: "Interface")
• Long-range impact probe (TNG: "Night Terrors")
• Microprobe (VOY: "The Cloud", "Eye of the Needle")
  • Gravimetric microprobe (DS9: "Playing God")
• Multispatial probe (VOY: "Extreme Risk")
• Reconnaissance probe (TNG: "Force of Nature")
• Scanner probe (TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease")
• Sensor drone (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
  • Class-5 intelligence drone (DS9: "For the Uniform")
• Sensor probe (TNG: "The Last Outpost")
• Solar probe (Star Trek Generations)
  • The Egg (TNG: "Evolution")
• Telemetry probe (TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome")

Ancient Earth probes

• Earth-Saturn probe
• Friendship 1
• Mariner 2
• Nomad
• Pioneer spacecraft
  • Pioneer 5
  • Pioneer 10
• Ranger spacecraft
  • Ranger Block I
  • Ranger Block II
    • Ranger 5
• Sputnik I
• Voyager series
  • Voyager 6

Alien probes

File:Icoprobe.jpg

An Iconian probe

The Kataan probe

• Barzan probe (TNG: "The Price")
• Iconian probe (TNG: "Contagion")
• Cytherian probe (TNG: "The Nth Degree")
• Ilia probe (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
• Kataan probe (TNG: "The Inner Light")
• Kukulkan's probe (TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth")
• "Pup"'s probe (DS9: "The Forsaken")
• Orbital probe (Romulan) (TNG: "The Defector")
• Science probe (Bajoran) (DS9: "The Alternate")
• Whale Probe (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
• Tan Ru (TOS: "The Changeling")
• Transwarp probe (VOY: "Pathfinder")
• Possible alien probe destroyed by a Cardassian ATR-4107 (VOY: "Dreadnought")
• Extra galactic probe encountered by USS Greyhound (TNG: "The Last Outpost", "Datalore", "Conspiracy")

See also

• Assault probe, a fictional device described by the Kyrians
• Bio-probe, a multi-purpose Vidiian device
• Borg probe, a starship
• Cortical probe, a medical instrument
• Duotronic probe, a small tool
• Electro-dynamic probe, a tool
• Hunter probe, a ranged weapon device
• Romulan mind probe, an interrogation device
• Subdermal probe, a medical device
• United Earth Space Probe Agency, an exploration agency
• Xindi probe, a spatial weapon

Background information

• Detailed information on the types of Federation probes are given in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.
• Several early Earth probes were seen on computer screens during "The Cage".
• The "class V planetary probe" in "Blink of an Eye" is the same graphic as the "multiphasic probe" in "Extreme Risk".