- You may be looking for the Pocket Books novel, Probe.
A 22nd century probe.
A Probe is an automated spacecraft used to gather information. Probes are often used for tasks that starships are not suited to handle.
Such tasks are:
- Collecting information in environments that are too small for starships to examine.
- Collecting information in environments that are too dangerous for starship to examine.
- Extreme long-term deep space exploration.
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")
Several probes used by Starfleet are modified torpedo casings with extended sensor equipment and no warhead. Some deep space probes have casings that contain radioactive material that could potentially contaminate the biosphere of planets if they enter and remain in the atmosphere. (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 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 solanagen-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")
Starfleet probe types
- 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
- Class-4 probe
- TNG: "The Most Toys"
- Class-5 probe
- TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I"
- VOY: "False Profits"
- Class-6 probe
- Class-7 probe
- Class-8 probe
- TNG: "The Emissary"
- Class-9 probe
- Class-A probe
- TNG: "The Emissary"
- TNG: "Ship in a Bottle"
Other Federation probes
- Atmospheric probe (DS9: "Starship Down")
- Class V planetary probe (VOY: "Blink of an Eye")
- Deep space probe (TNG: "Thine Own Self")
- Interface probe (TNG: "Interface")
- Microprobe (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
- Multispatial probe (VOY: "Extreme Risk")
- Quadros-1 probe (DS9: "Emissary")
- Sensor probe (ENT: "Sleeping Dogs")
- Vega Nine probe (TNG: "Tin Man")
Ancient Earth probes
- Earth-Saturn probe
- Friendship 1
- Mariner 2
- Nomad
- Pioneer spacecraft
- Ranger spacecraft
- Ranger block 1 type
- Ranger block 2 type
- Ranger 3
- Sputnik I
- Voyager VI
Alien probes
- 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 (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")
See also
- 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".