FWS Ships of the Line: Explorer and Science Ships

Often one of the set pieces for high space adventure and tragedy is those spacecraft that go where no one has gone before and may never go again if the our intrepid ship and crew do not arrive back. These are the spacecraft that are designed to go beyond explore and/or settled space and discover what lays beyond the next solar system. In that, these explorer class starships are constructed to be out there in the deep cold blackness of outer space without much help or resupply for years at a time. Armed and well crewed to deal with all manner of incoming threats, scientific challenges, and issues during their multiyear mission to parts unknown. In this next to last installment of Ships of the Line, FWS shall be discussing the explorer ship class along with its smaller sister: the science/research ship. 

Why is FWS Discussing the Explorer & Science ships?

Here is the central question: are explorer and science vessel classes considered military starships in military sci-fi setting? And my answer is...it depends? That even holds to real-world examples of exploratory vessels in the Age of Sail and all the way to this very day. Given the amount of science fiction stories that have explorer ships that were constructed by military organizations and manned (in part) by military personnel, I felt like an inclusion of explorer ships was warranted for the Ships of the Line series. 

However, pure science/research ships are even more diluted than pure explorer starships when it comes to their inclusion in this series. I felt that including science/research ships was just for a sense of completion for my own benefit, because we all know that no science/research ship will be a titan of space combat. In addition, the other reason is that these two classifications of starships are featured heavily in the world of Star Trek and given my deep connection to that franchise, I needed to discuss these important classes of starships within the series. 

What is the Difference between a Science/Research Ship and an Explorer in Sci-Fi?

There are commonalities between both of these non-combat starships, but there are vast differences as well. To me, an explorer class starship is a generalist ship that can perform a number of tasks related to exploration and initial scientific investigation on all manner of natural phenomena. Built for long-range travel and to be in operation for years and light-years far away from shelter and resupply. Given this, the crew is diverse in their roles, backgrounds, skills, and education. With the explorer ships being far, far from home and the rest of their fleet, explorer ships must be well-armed and armored to deal with threats. 

In addition, the explorer vessel are outfitted with the state-of-the-art technologies to survey alien worlds and outer space natural phenomena. Besides, the scientific endeavors of the explorer class starship, these ships make contact with new species and new civilizations, causing the explorer class starships need crew that are skilled in first contact situations, diplomacy, and trade negations. This is the model the Galaxy class explorer starship implanted into our common understanding about explorer ships in science fiction. There is the purely science/research ships that are more tightly targeted to scientific research that are likely deployed to a specific location in space. This means that the science/research ships of a future space fleet or interstellar government are designed solely scientific matters and this shapes the ship itself, with the inclusion of specific laboratories, specific scientists, and specialized scientific tools/technologies. 

Science ships are likely more modular to fit the needs and scope of the mission and this means that the ship is refitted in technologies and crews swapped out for others due to the mission profile. Unlike their big sister, the science/research vessel is more short-ranged and is more designed to go to a specific location and stay there to dig deep into the mystery. However, as we all know, the science/research ship can be easy targets for a Bird-of-Prey. Of course, for many of us, our common understanding with science ships often comes from the ill-fated USS Grissom of the Starfleet Oberth class science ship from Star Trek III: The Search of Spock. When it comes to the number of explorer ships in a space fleet along with the number of pure science ships in service, we can expert fewer than the average cruiser. There would be more of the cheaper and smaller science ships than the rather larger and very expensive explorer class starships.   

Real-World Explorer and Research Ships

Unlike most of the explorer/science/survey vessels seen in science fiction, the bulk of ocean-going ships devoted to research and survey missions are not directly command, crewed, or funded by a military organizations. There are some that are, like the German Naval research ship Planet and there were many in the Age of Sail. Some research/survey ships of that period were retrofitted to be in the role of exploration/survey ship, and those sail ships become important steps in advanced human understanding of the natural world, as was in the case of The Beagle. 

Today, most bluewater survey and/or research vessels are under ownership and operation of private firms or non-military government agencies, like the USA NOAA or like the fish research vessel, the FRV Scotia of Fisheries Research Services. Then that brings us to those survey ships that are owned by private companies and are mostly devoted to research that will generate money, as we see with oil exploration vessels. In the realm of spacegoing research/survey space vehicles are the orbital and planetary surface probes, like Voyager I & II, Pioneer 11, Viking, and the Soviet Vesta. Of course, we could consider most of the manned mission carried out since 1961 to be science/survey missions, making all manner craft, science ships. To me, the space vehicle that represents the advancement of space knowledge via manned missions will always be the NASA Space Shuttles.

Would These Types of Starships Exist in the Real-World?

I think it is with a degree of certainly that when (or if) we push out into our solar system and beyond to extrasolar systems, these voyages will be undertaken by scientific vessels and explorer starships. The harsh reality is that deep space exploration and/or science/ships will be similar to the Van Braun from 2005's Alien Planet program on the old Discovery Channel. It would be only after the robotic scientific mission was completed that humans may be so compelled to launch a low-and-slow manned mission to the alien star system that maybe would look like the journey of the Endurance from Interstellar. Given that science be a harsh mistress, the reality of a manned explorer vessel travelling from star to star, as seen works like Star Trek and Mass Effect is not likely. 

It is more likely that the manned and unmanned explorer ships will travel to a single star system or even just to a single exoplanet in that system for scientific inquires. Of course, if some magical hyperdrive or warp drive is discovered then that will change everything. I think it needs to be said that the survey and charting missions often seen in science fiction are just that: science fiction. A planetary survey of a complex world similar to our own will take many years to complete and even more if there is intelligent species with a civilization living on that world. The "first contact" would be unmanned probes that would feed data to the incoming manned sleeper starship that is still in transit. Upon arrival of the manned ship, one part of the mission would be done for the science team. Depending on technology and ability for the manned mission to stay for years in the alien star system would depend if humans would personally explore the rest of the star system or turn that portion of the mission over to robots. 

Are there Space Combat Applications for the these Types of Starships?

When the balloon goes up and the dogs of war are slipped from their rusty cages, all ships could be called in military service of some kind, even those normally charting unknown space anomalies and alien star systems. Could explorer and science ships be useful to the war effort? When it comes to explorer ships based more on the Enterprise-D model or even the Intrepid class, they would be refitted to serve as a warship and given the larger platform that something like a Galaxy class starship, they would be prized. Explorer ships could be used a carrier vessels transporting attack craft or tactical transports along with their marines to the battlefield given their larger shuttle bays and hangers. In space engagements, explorers could serve as long-range artillery support, pounding the enemy lines. Of course, depending on how well the explorer ships are armed and armored, the explorer ships would off-load their science crews and the labs and then go to the battlefield without much effort. 

If we examine the combat applications of the explorer ships seen in Babylon with vessels like The Cortez, there would be different roles assigned to these types of explorer ships over something like the Enterprise-D. In the lore of the show, the Explorer class were not constructed with combat of any kind in mind nor would they be called for duty in frontline combat roles if needed. The role that this class could perform would as mobile hospital stations, mobile military bases, evac ships, troop ships, or even last ditch exodus vessels of colonial worlds. Then that brings us to the science/survey/research spaceships and their limited combat abilities. Normally, science/survey/research spaceship classes are not designed with any combat duties in mind and they are more prey than hunter. Only under the most extreme and desperate circumstances would these types of vessels be pressed into military service. If that were the case, the science/survey/research spaceships would need extensive time in drydock to refit and rearm for their combat roles as scout or e-warfare ship due to their large sensor suites and limited upgradeable to an actual warships.  

Who will Own and Command these Science and Explorer Ships 

When we examine the real-world research ships of the past and today, we see that nearly none are under the control of a military organization and most are either under governmental body or private business...this what the future will hold for spacegoing science/research ships or even the much larger and expensive explorer ship? Science fiction has been using both government run ships like this that fit within their space navies and private companies that construct and field science ships for various purposes. If the current model holds, it is likely that private companies will be more on the forefront of developing space transport technologies than governments. This could change if we grow up as a species, but the jury is out.

Science Fiction and the Explorer/Science Class Ship

In the wide context of the sci-fi community, the idea of the explorer class vessels and the  science/survey/research spaceships has been hijacked by the Star Trek franchise since the 1960's imprinting on all of us what those ships should be like. Moreover, it was the USS Grissom from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and the USS Enterprise D that really gave that sci-fi community a context for these types of fictional spacecraft...just look at this article for example! One dark way that science fiction creators incorporate these types of specialized spacecraft into their stories is a plot element to get our heroes way out into the dangers of deep space. How many times have we, dear readers of FWS, seen science and explorer ships gone missing and it is the job of the hero (or player) to locate this little lost sheep and determine why it has not reported in...and normally, there is something lurking for our heroes to discover onboard these lost ships. Due to the need for "action" in most stories, the process of scientific endeavor on far off worlds is streamlined at best and wholly dumbeddown at worst, this makes the actual duties of explorer and science ships less sexy than their big more-heavily armed brothers. Of course, there are exceptions and some stories have focused on the science of space exploration more than space warfare. Two of my favorite examples from Alien Planet and Interstellar.  

Examples:

The Federation Galaxy class Explorer from the Star Trek Universe

The mission of Starfleet, since its founding in the 2136, has been one of exploration and defense. This mission was pioneered by the NX class in the 2150s and the mantle of that heritage was taken by the best example of a Starfleet explorer ship: the Galaxy class. When she left Martian orbit, the Galaxy class was the most advanced, powerful, and costly ships of the line in Starfleet history that was only eclipsed by the Odyssey and Universe class starships later. As much as the NX class, the Constitution class, and the Excelsior class were symbols of their age and pathfinders pushing the the understanding of the galaxy, the Galaxy class was the very symbol and the apex of the explorer classification for Starfleet. 

In some ways, the Galaxy was the most pure of the explorer ships of Starfleet and UESPA. When the Galaxy class was dreamed up, it was a time of peace and new technologies that allowed for the Starfleet to form a project at the Martian shipyards to develop the most advanced deep space Starship ever constructed. For over a decade, the Galaxy class Starship Development Project met in Drawing Room 5 at Mars Station and laid out the Galaxy class explorer. It was a prefect time for such a project, Starfleet was turning its attention back to exploration and not war, to building the next generation of ships, and with a time of peace, Starfleet had the resources to dream big and dream big they did. Ships of the Galaxy class were then the most advanced vessels of their time in terms of offensive and defensive weapons, computer technology, warp drive, design, holodeck technology, and sensor technology. They were mobile science stations wrapped in a cruise ship vibe. They were the crown jewel for anyone serving in Starfleet and the pride of the fleet. 

This has been called the so-called Golden era of Exploration, and the Galaxy class was the apex of that era. The goal of the Galaxy class project was to built a mobile city in space that could spend years out beyond Federation space with every resource at the crew's fingertips. It was also one of the first ships to incorporate the new Starfleet policy of including families onboard ships. In some ways, the Galaxy class was a fusion of the older Ambassador class and the Oberth class. This 100 year old starship took a great deal of resources and time to construct as well as manpower to crew the vast vessel, given that Galaxy class serving in a explorer role had more than 1,000 crew members. 

This was a ship of its time, given the relative peace of the time period. The overall style of the Galaxy class folded into other Starfleet ships at the time, like the Nebula class and hallmarks of the style of the Galaxy class are still seen. Throughout the class service life, the members of the Galaxy class (and especially the Enterprise D) were shining examples of Starfleet's mission for peace and exploration. Much like their older sisters of the Ambassador and Excelsior classes the Galaxy class expanded the knowledge of the galaxy, made contact with new species, mapped new stars, and responded to various crisis. Several of the Galaxy class would be destroyed due to this, none more sadly than the Odyssey. Starfleet and much of the galaxy had labored under a false view that there was nothing out there that would counter their best ships...then the Borg showed up and a few years later, the Dominion came through the Bajoran wormhole.

By the time of the Dominion War, the Federation only had less than 2 dozen of the massive vessels in service. In the larger fleet battles, the Galaxy class was a command-&-control vessel of that battle group and the old battle bridge was altered to be a C3 center. In addition, Galaxy class served as hubs for their battle groups and as fire support during battles. The members of the class that served in the Dominion War were stripped down with the science labs closed and families put off the ship to be well beyond the frontlines. By the time that bloody war ended, ships like the Galaxy class would not be constructed in the same way again. The inheres of the throne of the Galaxy class were better armed, not family ships, and not built to be luxury cruisers of deep space. After the end of the war and the other vessels taken back over the exploration role, no more Galaxy class starships were constructed. To many historians, the Galaxy class represented a special time in Federation history that will never come again. 

The EX-ESV-1 Earth Star Voyager from the 1988 Disney TV Movie Earth Star Voyager

Just before the Disney Renaissance, the company was attempting to find their place outside of a sense of nostigela, and one of those methods was the "Disney Sunday Movie" that ran on ABC from 1986-1988. During the last year of the program, Disney would air a two-part TV movie over two nights in mid-January of 1988 called "Earth Star Voyager". This was pilot for a possible series that was not picked up. Set 100 years after the airing of the TV movie, the Earth is in ecological collapse and probes launched by a doomed exploration mission by the Earth ship Vanguard Explorer has picked up a possible new home for humanity. Now, the mission is to launch the most advanced ship named the EX ESV-1 "Earth Star Voyager" with 115 young members of the Earth Space Science Academy on a 26 year long mission to a star some 18.7 LYs away that may hold a Earth-like world called "Demeter" and the salvation of humanity,

Due to the length of time, the crew was picked from the ranks of the academy save for the captain. The EX-ES1 was a massive multi-generational explorer/survey ship that would cross the nearly 20 lightyears via the new "Bauma Drive" developed by Professor Bauma, allowed for FTL travel. Once at Demeter, a year would be spent exploring the world along with extensive tests and sample agricultural fields to determine for human habitation. Due to the unevenness of the pilot, reused visuals, the weak script, and that the show was not picked up, we know nearly nothing about the ship itself. Additionally, if Disney would even acknowledge that Earth Star Voyager even existed, maybe we could get access to the archives about the show and shots of the model used for the ships...more than what is online. So, what about the pilot movie? Well, it was never released in America and had a limited release on VHS overseas, and it will likely never be released on a modern format. There rips of the film on YouTube, so watch if you are interested. 

The Andromeda Initiative Tempest Pathfinder/Explorer/Survey Cruiser from Mass Effect: Andromeda

While Mass Effect: Andromeda (ME:A) game was a rocky affair that caused BioWare to put the entire Mass Effect franchise in time-out, I did enjoy most of the game, my Lara Croft styled Sara Ryder, and the design of the Tempest. In the game, the Andromeda Initiative's pathfinder program used a specially developed survey ship to locate and investigate habitual worlds. Designed by Lucille Diawara, who also named the class, and test-flown by Kallo Jath, the Tempest class survey ship was to be the tool of each pathfinders and their support teams on each Ark ship...and that didn't happen according to plan due to the Scourge. 

Only one Tempest cruiser that survived was on the Hyperion Ark, and Sara Ryder took command of the Tempest on her pathfinder missions. Onboard the Tempest, was the home of the pathfinder, the team, and her AI partner-in-crime. Designed to be both a survey and science ship, the Tempest had a suite of sensors and science labs to complete the colonial survey missions. When a world looked promising, there in the belly of the ship, was the Nomad off-world off-road exploration rover. Unlike similar Alliance vessels and vehicles, the Andromeda Initiative Tempest class and the Nomad vehicles are unarmed due to restrictions on military-grade weapon systems sales to private companies. Instead, the Tempest class cruisers are dependent on stealth and speed to overcome threats. While the Tempest is one of the smaller craft on this list, it is one of the most beautiful and it is a pity we will never see more of the ME:A universe. 

The Federation Universe class Explorer from the Star Trek Universe

We go from one of the smallest science/explorer ships, we now come to one of the biggest: the Universe class. In the 26th century, the Federation has expanded beyond the Alpha and Beta quadrants of the Milky Way galaxy with exploration missions being launched deep into the Gamma and Delta quadrants. This was made possible by the destruction of the two most dangerous enemies of the Federation: the Borg Collective and the Dominion. Both were in ruins and scattered by that point, unable to stop the expansion of the Federation. Helping the expansion was the quantum slipstream drive system that the USS Voyager brought back from their journey in the Delta quadrant in the 24th century. This technology allowed access to other parts of the galaxy without the use of wormholes or the toll of years of travel. 

By the 26th century, the technology was much improved and now the Federation had access to extra-galactic space. Due to this, Starfleet decided it was time to venture out of the Milky Way galaxy and explore the Canis Major dwarf galaxy,  the Sagittarius dwarf elliptical galaxy, and the Andromeda galaxy. In order to conduct such an operation, there needed to be a new breed of starship and the Universe class was the end result. At the time of construction, this is the most advanced explorer ship ever seen and only a few ships ever emerged out of the bio-yards. For the Universe class was not made like most starships, it was grown in bio-yards over the course of years around a skeletal frame. Due to resources, crew needed, and the length of the mission, only six of the Universe class were grown: the Universe, Enterprise J, the Stephen Hawking, the Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, the Jean Luc Picard, and the Carl Sagan. 

Due to the gap between galaxies, the Universe class starships would be on their own for years and each ship would have to serve many roles and functions, and one of them was the home for the massive crew. It was more than a home, the Universe class had such interior volume (the class is 2 miles in length) that a city was constructed inside and each city within each member of the class was individual names. These cities hosted all manner of activities, with parks, bodies of water, shopping, housing, entertainment, and places familiar to the many species onboard. Given the length of time of the mission to explore nearby galaxies, these ships were multi-generational with schools, military training academies, and universalities. 

Given the long-term mission that could be decades, the Universe class had to be designed to go for that long and be able to be flexible in both hardware, software, and the crew to met unplanned challenges. To help with some of this isolation, the Universe class were tasked with deploying communication relay stations along their path to build a communication network millions of lightyears from home. With the size of the vessel, interior travel to different regions is conducted site-to-site transporters and turbolifts are only in a emergency or in local travel. In addition, the Universe class hosted a number of shuttles and proper science starships in scale with the Oberth class from three hundred years ago. 

In practice, the Universe class would be the hub for smaller craft to disembark, especially if the star system held a world with a civilization...you really cannot help a ship the scale of the Universe class! The Federation did not want the alien civilization to believe that an alien mothership was a path of conquest and enslavement! In terms of armament and defensive system, much is classified about the vessel, but we do possess the codenames of these systems: LEECH, HYDRA, IMPACT, and SPHERE. It assumed by those in the defense industry that the LEECH system uses the rumored Leech Generators that allow the ship to draw power from an enemy vessel(s) to counter the threat in a less-than-lethal manner.

This system is rumored to be able to target specific systems while leaving life-support alone. This allows for the diplomacy mission of the Universe class to be greatly enhanced to deflated tensions. HYDRA is believed to be a form of missile system that allows for a single missile to strike at many points on the target, but we are unsure. IMPACT and SPHERE are believed to be two DE weapon systems. SPHERE is rumored to be embedded into the shield matrix, allowing for a particle beam to be generated anywhere within the shield grid, given the Universe class, 360 degree fire coverage. Now, IMPACT is another directed-energy beam weapon that is believed to be some sort of practice beam weapon that also deals in gravity, given the beam massive impact on shields by generate "ripples" in the matrix and destabilizing the enemy shields. The only known example, at current, of the Universe class in direct combat on-screen was in battle against the Sphere Builders at Battle of Procyon V with the Enterprise J and that event did not happen after the actions of the NX-01 Enterprise in 2154. 

At the time of writing, all of the members of this class are still out there exploring and have yet to return to Federation space. Maybe soon, they will return with stories from those distant points of light. 

In the real world, the Enterprise J was designed by the legendary Doug Drexler in few hours due to there only being less than two weeks to get the CGI model into the show. Sadly, due to budget cuts and time, the massive ship was only seen in the 3rd season episode of ST: ENT  "Azati Prime" when the time traveler Daniels brings Captain Archer to a corridor of the Enterprise J. The exterior of the ship was only seen on a display behind the actors. The full ship was later seen in a beautiful calendar shot as well on Doug Drexler's official site, and it was featured in the video game Star Trek Online. When Eaglemoss was turning out many display ships for Star Trek, there was an Enterprise J made in both the smaller and XL size, and it is a piece I badly want. I am a huge fan of the Universe design and the Enterprise J is one of my used pictures for my computer background. There is very little canon information on the Universe class, and Doug is one of the few pieces of information on the class and even he has invited fans to pose their own theories on the class...which I have done here. Much of what is above is from Doug and my own imagination.  

The EarthForce Explorer class from B5

In the era between the bloody Earth/Minbari War and War of the Shadows/the Earth Alliance First Civil War, there was a deep examination by EarthForce military planners and the civilian government on how to resurrect and redefine the EarthForce fleet. To say the Earth/Minbari War was bloody was an understatement. Few conflicts in Terran history equalled the death, destruction, and mental trauma that war had on the collective whole of humanity. It changed Earth, her people, and the general course of Milky Way galactic history.After the war, millions were death, nearly every ship the EarthForce fleet had was gone, and every colonial holding the Earth had was crushed. 

Given the extreme failure of the mission to "meet" the Minbari, there were two new projects by EarthForce and EarthGov to increase interstellar diplomacy/First Contract situations: The Babylon Station Project and the Explorer class. While the Babylon Project and massive historical impact the station had on the 3rd Age of Man, the Explorer class starship is less well known outside of the EarthForce fleet. Similar in scope to forging peace and understanding across the galaxy, the Explorer class ships would be taking this mission to the unknown regions (to humanity) of the galaxy towards the rim. 

Along the way, the Explorer class ships would be constructing new Jumpgates and scouting out possible new colonial sites, and/or resources. During this era between the wars, EarthForce would only construct six of the class due to the massive size and expense of the class. Coming in at 3.72 miles in lengths, it closer in size to Babylon 5 station than any other spaceship in all of humanity. Unlike many other EarthForce ships, the Explorer class was not designed with any combat roles in mind and it would not be used in any combat roles during times of war. This was due to the odd construction of the class and it steer length that prevent anytime of evasive maneuvering. From the outside, this massive starship appears "brittle" and this due to the massive spine that runs the length of the three mile craft with only a few sections of the entire ship designed for the smaller crew of less than 400. Speaking of the crew, only a 1/3rd of the total personnel were comprised of EarthForce, with the other members of the crew were civilians contractors for the science expeditions, construction projects, and other specialized roles; like planetary surveys. 

According to much rumor, some of the massive cost of the six Explorer class ships was secretly funded by the IPX corporation and agents of IPX were planted onboard to keep eyes out for possible signs of extraterrestrial archeological sites.  For some, the five-year long missions of the class were attractive to others looking to make a name, make some credits, or get lost among the stars. Only two portions of the ship were designed for habitation: one froward and one in the middle. The front of the ship housed the extensive launch bays for the large amount of probes, shuttles, construction pods, and short-ranged science craft. 

In addition, the forward section had the bridge, stellar cartography labs, shuttle repair, the construction operations center, and science mission operations. Down the spine, the rotating habitat section was accessed via mono-rail like craft (as well as the drive section) and here was all crew quarters, rec decks, chow halls, gyms, gardens, and the med-bay. At the very rear of the big ship was the drive section and was a limited access sections due to housing the engines, powerplant, fuel, and the jump-point systems. The spine itself contained solar panels, heat radiators, and stowed supplies for the crew along with assembly of jumpgates. Given it could be years between resupply, Explorer class ships grew fresh foods, carried massive amount of supplies, and had machine shops onboard to fashion replacements. 

When Explorer class ships did come back into Earth Alliance space, it was when the five year mission was over and it was time for resupply, refit, and crew rotations. Often, replacement crews were transported to the Explorer class as the ships of the class did not come back to Earth unless summoned. Until the Warlock class was developed after the War of the Shadows, the Explorer class was considered the apex of one's military service and the most prized assignment. After the war, there was an influx of new technologies that triggered changes in Terran naval technology. This made the Explorer class obsolete and the remaining ships of the class were retired after they completed their missions. They were not sent to a breaking years, as given their size and massive shuttle bays, it is believed that the class could be retrofitted as a space station, or a "baby Babylon". During the writing of this article, there was not been a replacement to the Explorer class...yet. It is odd, given how much the show made of the Explorer class that they were not seen more and much of what is written above is from fan entries and my own imagination. Hell, the B5 EarthForce sourcebook does not have an entry on the Explorer class despite the ship having a miniature made for the B5 RPG game! Wish this class had been better fleshed out. 

The ComStar Explorer Corps Magellan Class from Battletech 

One of the most unusual entries on this list came from an unusual place: the Battletech universe. While not known for starships, the Battletech universe does have some beautiful and creative starship designs, and one of my favorite from the 3057 Read-Out was the ComStar Explorer Corps Magellan class. ComStar was headquartered in Terra and ran the interstellar communication network after the fall of the United Star League and during the Succession Wars. During these times, ComStar's Explorer Corps was charted with surveying unknown space and locating the Exodus Fleet. Being built in 2960, the Magellan class would become the primary ship of the Explorer Corps. One of these Magellan vessels, the Outbound Light would make contact with the Clans in 3048 and by accident, trigger the Invasion of the Inner Sphere by the Clans the next year. 

The Oberth class Short Range Science ship from Star Trek

In the history of Starfleet, there are many classes of starships that have gone down in the history books as ships that advanced the quest for knowledge, forged peace, or were a great protector of the Federation. Sadly, the Oberth class is not as celebrated as classes like the Excelsior is. While Starfleet deals in mostly a general ship design to allow of one starship to serve as both warship and explorer in one package, this generalization led to a lack of purity to the general starship classes. During one of the key time periods of Starfleet, the 2260's, it was determined that based on the Constitution class missions that a 100% pure science ship would need to be built to conduct longer scientific endeavors on matters of interest. This was not new for Terran space exploration. Since the earliest days of Earth pushing out into space, most of the manned ships were science/survey/explorers in nature, especially when UESPA was the key Terran space program. This was seen in early space vehicles like the ringed Vulcan-styled Declaration class and the SS Valiant . However, that changed somewhat during the founding of Starfleet, with the NX class taking over for most of the deep space missions. Science and space exploration was key to the original mission of the NX class prior to the Romulan War. The another era of exploration came back in the 2250's and 2260's and it was then that Starfleet put out a request for designs for a small, short-ranged pure science/survey vessel. 

The unique design of this class was actually Vulcan in origin with the noted Sha'Tal Solutions firm submitting the winning design in the late 2260's and that took noted of (then) next evolution of Starfleet ship styling and design that were on the drawing boards at the time. The testbed ship for the entire class, the Seleya, was constructed at the Vulcan Shipyards, called "Sethlans" by Terrans. This was not a surprise to the few design firms that submitted their own take on the class, for Vulcans had a history of fielding science vessels. However, the first of the Oberth class would not launch until the mid-2270s due to design issues and heated arguments were held over if the class should be armed spearheaded by the Vulcans. All parties settled on a single phaser array to be included. 

While a small vessel when compared to the Constitution II class and upcoming Excelsior class, the purpose of the shorter-range Oberth class was to be completely committed to the scientific investigation of their target. Nothing else. To this end, there was little need for much flexibility in the class and a much smaller crew. Most Oberth class left with around 100 person crew, with much of that being composed of scientists and mission specialists that could be civilian or Starfleet. Less than 30% of the crew were assigned to running the ship. Missions onboard the Oberth class were not more than a few months and often the ship was outfitted with mission specific crew, gear, and hardware. One feature of the class was the bottom secondary hull, lovingly called "the canoe" and it was modular to allow for special science lab modules to be swapped out, specialized sensor grids to installed, and special craft to be housed onboard. One such example was the USS Arthur C. Clarke that investigated an alien species on an mostly ocean world that were similar to Terran whales in late 2286 with special civilian Cetacean scientist, Dr. Gillian Taylor onboard. Of course, earlier that year, one of the most infamous incident happened involving a Oberth class, USS Grissom, at the Genesis Planet. 

During a survey mission of the newly formed world, the Grissom was attacked and destroyed easily by a B'rel class Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Oddly, when the Grissom was launched, Captain Spock was up for the big chair and turned it down, however, later Captain Spock would take command of the USS Surak, an Oberth class that had been upgraded after the Genesis Planet attack. For over 100 years, the Oberth class served both Starfleet and civilian agencies in many roles and is the most produced starship class in Starfleet history due to small size, use, and easy of construction. By the 2370s, the Nova class was designed and fielded as the replacement to this class with an eye to capitalize on the strengths of the Oberth class and improve on its weakness. Speaking of weaknesses, attempts were made to improve the defensive and offensive systems over the lifespan of the class, but the class could not be anything more than a scout vessel in times of combat. During the two Borg incursions in Federation space and the Dominion War, the Oberth class served as surveillance vessel, scout, transport, and just another ship on the line. 

Besides its standard use as a science/survey vessel, the Oberth class was used as transport/courier ship within the borders of the Federation. These were often decommissioned from science duties and retrofitted for the role as transport vessel. This is also one of the rare Federation starships that were used by civilian agencies for field research, but these Oberth class that served in the ranks of the civilian world were modified to be not the same as the members of the class that served in the fleet. Another use that was rare was to be used as a test-bed for new technologies and the most infamous is the USS Pegasus that was illegally experimenting with a "phase cloak". By the 2417, the Oberth class was completely decommissioned from the fleet with a few in museums and still some still in the civilian world. 

In the real-world, the Grissom was designed by the very talented Nilo Rodis-Jamero and the physical 28 inch model was constructed by ILM after the production team for Star Trek III chose the design. At that point, the ship was called "the Valiant". We have to remember that at the time that Star Trek III was out, there were only a few canon Federation starships and that the Grissom was a bold design that was not like the more standard ships seen. Despite the Grissom being destroyed in the film, the model was reused for several of the Star Trek TV shows and was first seen in TNG in the 2nd episode "The Naked Now" of the first season and it would appear a number of times, including in the Generations film. The ship has a rather infamous reparation in the Trekkie world, with some calling the ship a joke. I have 

a different POV on the Oberth class. I clearly remember ST: III: TSOS and I was blown away by the amount of new ships in the film. The Grissom was unlike any Starfleet ship seen before and it still is rather unique in design. However, it was one of the few Starfleet starships is just be outright destroyed on-screen and that followed this ship class forever...the treatment of the class in TNG didn't help matters either. 

The Phaeton from FOX 2009 TV Pilot "Virtuality" 

One of the great crimes of TV shows that ended too early or were never picked up to me was 2009 Virtuality that aired as a TV movie in June of 2009...which I caught on TV. This is one of my favorites of all time and I rewatch the DVD it about once a year. Set in the near future (year never established), the Phaeton is a anti-matter bomb-pulse propulsion explorer starship tasked with explore the nearby star system of Epsilon Eridani (10.5 LYs). This mission will take 10 years to complete and the crew is 12. To escape their ship and familiar people, each crew member has VR modules to escape into their own private simulations. 

During the journey through the Sol system, the ecological situation on Earth grows worse and the mission of the Phaeton is changed from exploration to planetary survey to see if a world orbiting Epsilon Eridani is able to be fit for human habituality. Due to show not being picked up, we never got much in the way of seeing Phaeton conduct its science or exploration mission, but it shows maybe what be like to have a near-future deep space exploration ship and how the crew would deal with being locked inside their metal tube for 10 years. In actuality, the crew of Phaeton would be in cryo-sleep after the acceleration to light-speed due to how much resources would be needed to supply a crew of a dozen for 10 years. That maybe what the show was about and the central mystery of the show. It is possible that the crew was in cryo-sleep the entire time and this was a simulation...much like what American take on British TV show Life on Mars. Another take on this 2009 pilot is that the writers, Michael Taylor & Ronald D. Moore based part of Virtuality on elements of Earth Star Voyager.   

The Nova class science ship from Star Trek

The Nova was designed with one purpose in mind: to be the successor to the long-serving Oberth class. This class was first seen and named in one of the best two-parters in Star Trek Voyager: "The Equinox". Since its introduction in ST: VOY, the Nova class has gone on to be featured in other Trek works. Much like the Oberth class, the Nova class was to be strict science/research/survey vessel that was more short-ranged than her bigger sisters: the Galaxy, Nebula, and Sovereign classes. Based on the style and technological elements from the Sovereign class project, the Nova class was a vast improvement in every way to the aging Oberth class. Launching in the 2370's, the Nova class would slowly replace the Oberth class over the next two decades, serving in both science ship roles as well as scout ship duties when needed. 

One of the massive improvements over the Oberth that was fully tested by the misadventures of the USS Equinox, was the improved defensive and offensive systems. These improvements allowed the Equinox to survive the Delta Quadrant. However, the service lifespan of the Nova class will likely be much shorter than the Oberth class due to the massive improvements in FTL technology with the slipspace drive, allowing for starships to explore deeper into the galaxy than before, reducing the need for a short-range fully dedicated science vessels. Time will tell though.  

The USAA XD-1 Discovery One from the 2001 Universe

In the history of film and science fiction cinema especially, 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey sone of the most important films ever made. Personally, I like the 1984 sequel much better as a film. In the film, the Discovery is a the first interplanetary vessel of mankind and was built by the American US Astronautics Agency (USAA) in Terran orbit with the project headed by Walter Currnow. The XD-1 was original tasked with exploring the Jovian system, but when launched, the XD-1 was retasked to investigate the location of the signal that the Lunar Monolith emitted. 

At the time of launch, the Discovery One was one of the most expensive and advanced ships developed until the USSR Alexei Leonov (who might have been the first cosmonaut on the Moon if the Soviet lunar program had been successful) was launched. The design of XD-1 with its long spine was to separate the habitual section from the drive section due to the dangers of radiation from the nuclear reactor power sources. Propelling the vessel was magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters (MPDT) and controlling the vessel was two awake astronaut and the infamous HAL-9000.

With the mission in 2001 being a failure, the newly formed NCA began construction of the Discovery II to continue the mission of the original explorer ship. In the terms of this article, the Discovery from those two films is a explorer/science/survey of one of the purist forms and was one of the important mission ever launched at the time. This ship became a legend in the realm of fictional space vehicles. Something I always interesting was that the original design would have included heat radiators and been powered by the nuclear bomb Orion Drive, but it was rejected due to the filmmakers worried that audiences would think that the Discovery had wings in outer space! 

The Planetary Union Explorer A class Explorer Ships from The Orville

In the Star Trek comedy-drama series from the mind of Seth Macfarlane, a huge Trekkie, the series is set around an explorer vessel of the "Planetary Union": the USS Orville (ECV-197). In the show, the 3,000 member ships of the fleet for the Union are made of a number of classes and there is a general style for the Union fleet ships.  For this entry, I actually watched more of the Orville than I ever watched and I really like the series...especially, when consider the state of Trek series at the time. Please note, there is a science class vessel in the show and it a smaller variant of sorts to the Explorer A class. 

The Palomino and the Cygnus explorer ships from the Black Hole

After the explosion that was Star Wars in 1977, the other studios scrambled to find science fiction film scripts and projects to get greenlit and moved into production. One of these sci-fi films was the puzzling Black Hole from 1979 by Disney. This was the most expensive film ever made by Disney at the time and while the film script was wrapped in sci-fi, it was really a disaster movie in space, similar to The Poseidon Adventure. This film would come out at the same time as Star Trek: The Motionless Picture, and these two films represented more of an anti-Star Wars take on science fiction. While the film did make back its money, it was still no Star Wars at the box office. 

There are two explorer vessels in the film: the Palomino and the Cygnus. In the year 2130, the USS Palomino, a deep space explorer American vessels under the International Space Appropriation Committee is closing out their deep space mission to survey possible habitual worlds, when they discover an Earth vessel hovering on the outskirts of a black hole. That vessel was the "Flying Dutchmen of space", the USS Cygnus. Thought lost, the USS Cygnus was on a similar mission to the Palomino, but it never came back to Earth when requested to return to port nearly 20 years ago. At the time of launch, the Cygnus was the most expensive spacecraft ever built and it required many nations to fund the project. In answer to this, Palomino and her sister ships were constructed to be cheaper alternatives to undertake the mission to survey deep space. By then end of the film, both the Palomino and the Cygnus were destroyed and all hands were lost inside the black hole. I included both of the ships from Disney's Black Hole due to both being explorer vessels and they are nearing never discussed, especially the Palomino. The design of both of these vessels is odd and do not look they belong from the same civilization. The Palomino looks more primitive from the massive Cygnus, and the size of the Palomino does not look like it could undertake a deep-space planetary survey mission. Still, the movie is one I grew up with and it holds a special place in my heart, especially the characters of BOB and VINCENT. 

The Odyssey class Explorer from Star Trek

Born out of the Dominion War, the Odyssey class was the true successor to the Galaxy class and was the new breed of Federation explorer vessels after the Dominion War. In addition to exploration, the Odyssey class was a powerful combat starship that also carried the Aquarius class light escort vessel within its massive shuttle bay to help with tactical situations far from support. This class would lead to the even more advanced Vesta class that would extend the range of exploration by the Federation into the Gamma and Delta Quadrants via the use of Slipstream drive technology brought back by the USS Voyager. 

Only 12 Odyssey class explorers were constructed, with one being the Enterprise F under the command of the first Andorian to take the big chair on a Enterprise christened starship in 300 years of Starfleet history: Cpt. Va'Kel Shon. The Odyssey class Enterprise-F was designed for a 2011 contest for the Star Trek Online video game by absolute legend Adam Ihle with members of the game studio finetuning the design. It is so awesome that the Enterprise F was designed by a such a fan with such love and amazing talent that it is one of the best designs for a starship in the post-Dominion War era. 

It is sad that when we Trekkies  finally got to see the Enterprise F and the Odyssey class on-screen (and entered into "official canon") it was in the 3rd Season of terrible Picard show. To make matters worse, the ship was disrespected and tossed away by terrible writing and simple bad ideas on a terrible TV show. This was an insult to the entire name of the Enterprise and the the show should be ashamed of themselves for how the Enterprise F was treated and the to name that other ship the Enterprise G is another level of disrespect. Honestly, Picard is so bad that its storylines on all three seasons simply cannot be canon Trek, and to me, the Beta Canon on this ship and class is far superior to what was shown on the 3rd Season. 

The Jupiter-2 from the Lost in Space Franchise

One of the most famous early TV fictional spacecraft was the Jupiter 2 from Lost in Space television show. Since the original spacecraft came to the small screen, there have a number of redesigns for the iconic Jupiter 2 spacecraft as Lost in Space was redeveloped for the big and small screens over the years. In the 1960's show, the Jupiter 2 was originally designed to explore the closest star to the Sol System, Alpha Centauri along with establishing a colonial outpost to allow for further human colonization. However, this altered with the misadventures of the good ship and crew throughout three seasons of the original show. Originally launched in 1997, the Jupiter 2 was made possible by recovered alien crashed technology recovered in 1993 with assistance from the alien pilot. The original alien race that helped give the human race FTL technology was from Alpha Centauri. This was later added to the narrative of the show via the 1991 Innovation comic series. Throughout the show, the Jupiter 2 lived up to its mission of planetary exploration in both space and on the surface with their rover. 

The Endurance from Interstellar

In the brutal, yet beautiful 2016 film by Christopher Nolan has one of the more interesting designs of a fictional explorer vessel in the NASA Endurance. Originally, the Endurance was being constructed for manned long-term exploration of the solar system. However, after the agricultural collapse across the Earth, NASA and the exploration of space were scrapped by the federal government and the reminds of the Endurance was moved to NORAD. Of course, that all changed when the black hole emerged near Saturn and the LAZARUS Project was undertaken. In the film, the ship was repurposed to allow the limited crew to travel through the black hole and conduct planetary surveys of the worlds that were more likely to be candidates for a 2nd home to humanity, either by direct colonization by living humans from Terra or by the frozen embryos stored onboard the ship. The donut-shaped craft was modular in design and carried four landing craft for scouting and heavy cargo delivery. Given the limited resources and the nature of time dilation, the ship was equipped with sleeper pods and  robots were then in charge of the mission. Due to the importance of the Endurance mission to the future of humanity, the ship became a important symbol of that time and its crew became legends. 

The Von Braun from Alien Planet 

Of the iconic science fiction art boos of the 20th century, there was 1990's Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 AD Voyage to Darwin IV by sci-fi artist legend Wayne Barlowe. In the original book, which I am a proud owner of, the expedition to Darwin IV was a joint human-alien manned mission via alien spacecraft to explore this alien world and its diverse lifeforms via these cone-shaped aero-craft. In the 2005 CGI Discovery Channel documentary, the change was made from an manned mission to one undertaken by robots designed by humans to a world some 6.5 Lightyears from Earth: Darwin IV. 

The 2005 Alien Planet documentary showed the interstellar craft that brough the three Horus class blimp probes to Darwin was called the Von Braun and it took some 42 years for it to reach Darwin IV at 20% of lightspeed. When the Von Braun arrived in that far off star system, it was a major milestone of human intelligence and vision, but it would be six years before mission control learned of the Von Braun arrive and the discoveries on the planet due to the distance. During the planetary survey mission that was to last a year, the zeppelin-like probes would be under the command-and-control of the supercomputers onboard the Von Braun. The show never made it clear, if the Von Braun was to return to the Sol System after the conclusion of the mission to Darwin IV. 

The Weyland Heliades Class J Scientific Exploratory Vessel from Prometheus

One of the beginnings of human extra-solar explorations came from one of the largest companies on Earth in the 21st Century: the Weyland Corporation. The Heliades class J explorer vessel was designed and constructed by Weyland Corporation for planetary survey missions and the class represented a big leap for manned space exploration due to its FTL drive that allowed for humanity to access the stars. At the time, this one of the most expensive machines ever created by man. The second member of the Heliades class was the USCSS Prometheus and it was involved in a highly classified mission to the Zeta Reticuli system in 2093. 

While the true mission of the Prometheus and discoveries made on LV223 were known to few, the general public was aware that the failure of the very expensive mission and the death of Peter Weyland lead to the Weyland Corporation being in dire financial conditions, allowing for the Japanese Yutani Corporation to acqurie the failing company, founding the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. After this event, the Heliades class continued to be refined and produced by the new company for private companies, private ventures, and governments for planetary exploration, survey operations, resource surveys. Most of the 300 surveyed worlds by 2179 where most likely have been originally surveyed by manned mission in Heliades class ships. 

Next Time on FWS...

In the next article that will not take months, we will be looking one of my favorite 1980's toylines that did not gain the importance or success of other icons of the era: Coleco's STARCOM: The US Space Force!