The USS Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid class starship

The USS Voyager (NCC-74656) is an Intrepid class starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and was the primary setting of the television program Star Trek: Voyager. Voyager was launched on stardate 48038.5, in 2371, and is owned and used by Starfleet, the defensive and exploratory arm of the United Federation of Planets. Shortly afterward, the starship Voyager's departed Deep Space Nine to conduct counter-terrorist operations in a dangerous territory known as "the Badlands".

Brief history

Voyager is a small but highly advanced Federation vessel with a crew complement of 141, commissioned under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. On stardate 48307.5, Voyager was pulled into the Delta Quadrant of the galaxy by an alien entity known as the Caretaker while searching for a missing Maquis ship. Voyager's first officer, chief medical officer, chief engineer and pilot, among others, were killed during this encounter, and Voyager was left heavily damaged.

After combining forces with the Maquis, who had also been pulled into the Delta Quadrant, and battling an alien race called the Kazon in order to protect the Ocampans, Voyager began a long, slow journey back to Federation space. However, even traveling at maximum speed, it would take 75 years to return home.

The surviving Maquis were integrated into the Voyager crew. Relations proved uncomfortable at first, but with their lives on the line, the two crews rapidly learned to work together.

Voyager did not have a counsellor assigned to it due to the short term nature of its original mission. In later years the emergency holographic doctor would perform counselling services for the crew.

One of Starfleet's newest designs, the Intrepid Class starship is small in comparison with the Galaxy class vessels such as Enterprise. Boasting two full holodecks, good maneuverability, high speed, and comprehensive array of weapons and defensive systems, the Intrepid Class starship fulfil the role of a long range scout and explorer ship. There is limited room for family quarters.

U.S.S. Intrepid, first of the class, was used as a testbed for the remainder, U.S.S. Voyager, herself was lost near the Badlands on stardate 48307.5. The class in general were the most advanced in the fleet, featuring much improved computer systems that included bio-neural circuitry rather than the traditional optical processors. The variable geometry warp nacelles theoretically improving maneuverability whilst still offering optimal warp field creation.

Technical specifications

Naval Construction Contract: 74656
Class: Intrepid
Commissioned: Stardate 48038.5 (the year 2371)
Decks: 15
Length: 343 meters
Height: 133 meters
Maximum sustainable speed: Warp 9.975
Refit Cycle (needed after):

Minor: 1 year

Standard: 5 years

Major: 20 years

Expected Lifetime: 100 years
Captain History: Captain Kathryn Janeway

Computer specifications

Crew Interface Software: LCARS 2.3
Access Time: 4,600 kiloquads/second
Number of dedicated modules: 2,048
Capacity/Module: 630,000 kiloquads
Simultaneous access to 47 million data channels
Transluminal processing at over 8 trillion calculations per nanosecond
Operational temperature margins from 10 kelvins to 1,790 kelvins

Warp Engine specifications

Warp Reactor: M/ARA Mark II
Normal Cruise Speed: Warp 6
Max Cruise Speed: Warp 9.975
Fuel (Matter Injector): cold deuterium
Fuel (Anti-Matter Injector): anti-hydrogen (anti-matter)
Fuel Replenishment: Bussard Ramscoop

Impulse Engine specifications

Impulse Reactors: 3
Impulse Reactor Fuel: slush deuterium

Transporter specifications

Personnel Transporters - Quantum Resolution (life form): 4
Emergency Transporters - High Volume (scan only): 2
Cargo Transporters - Molecular (non-life form): 2

Communications Systems specifications

Intra Ship: voice and data
Personal Comm-Badge Range: 500,000 metres
Ship to Ground Comms Range: 38,000,000 to 60,000,000 metres
Ship to Ship Comms Transfer Speed: 18.5 kiloquads/second
Subspace Comms Speed: Warp 9.9997

Sensor Systems specifications

Long Range
High Resolution Range: 5 light years
Medium Resolution Range: 17 light years

Weaponry specifications

Main Ship Type VIII Phaser Arrays
Phaser Arrays: 13
Personal Type I, II & III Phasers: 10 kW
Fore & Aft Torpedo Launchers: 4
Max. Torpedo Simultaneous Spread: 4
Max number of torpedoes: 38 Mark VI warheads

Crew complement

Officers: 40
Enlisted Crew: 100
Civilians: 80
Total Emergency Capacity: 900
Diplomatic Capability: Grade 3
Diplomats housed in crew quarters if required
1 x 80 square metre conference room for 40 guests
2 x 40 square metre 10 seat briefing rooms
Communications via standard ships systems
15% of all facilities, including interconnecting corridors capable of supporting H or K environments

Deck by deck

Deck 1 Main bridge, Captains Ready room, Senior Officer's
Deck 2 Mess Hall
Deck 3 Captains and Crew Quarters aft torpedo Launcher
Deck 4 Primary Transporters, crew quarters, aft torpedo launcher
Deck 5 Sick Bay, Crew Quarters
Deck 6 Holodecks One and Two, Astromatrics lab, Auxilary computer core
Deck 7 Auxilary computer core, deuterium tanks, crew quarters
Deck 8 Deuterium tanks, Crew Quarters
Deck 9 Security, deck nine has been shut down to conserve energy aboard Voyager
Deck 10 Aeroshuttle, primary computer core deflector dish, shuttle bay CARGO, crew quarters
Deck 11 main engineering, primary computer core, main deflector dish, forward torpedo launchers, main shuttle bay Crew quarters, Shuttle bay CARGO.
Deck 12 Primary computer core main deflector dish, Reserve warp core, crew quarters.
Deck 13 Landing pads, science labs crew quarters.
Deck 14 Anti-matter storage pods
Deck 15 Ground hover pads,

New technologies

Voyager, along with its other Intrepid class counterparts, introduced a number of new technologies to Federation starships. Perhaps the most notable feature was an LCARS computer system augmented with bio-neural gel packs. The new gel packs were designed to increase processing speed and better organize processed information, and are used to supplement or replace older isolinear optical chips in many of the ship's systems.

Another innovation introduced with Voyager was the Emergency Medical Hologram. The EMH was a holographic doctor designed as a short-term supplement for the regular sickbay staff. It is programmed with a library of over 5 million different medical treatments from 2,000 medical references and 47 physicians. The EMH form is generated by a series of holographic emitters installed in sickbay. Along with generating the holographic body, the emitters also surround the doctor's holographic image with a magnetic containment field, thus allowing it to interact with objects and patients. The EMH cannot be used in areas that do not have holographic projectors unless equipped with some form of mobile holographic projection.

The warp drive was also improved with the introduction of Voyager. Conventional warp drive has a long-term deleterious effect on the fabric of space, gradually damaging it in a cumulative fashion until eventually a subspace rupture forms. When this effect was discovered by the USS Enterprise-D, the Federation enacted a warp 5 "speed limit" to slow the damage caused by warp drive. Voyager introduced a new variable geometry nacelle warp drive that eliminates the possibility of damage, thus allowing it to travel faster than the warp 5 limit with no worries.

Voyager's maximum speed is Warp 9.975, but this speed cannot be sustained for long periods without damaging the ship.

During their years in the Delta Quadrant, the Voyager crew upgraded their ship as far as possible using captured, stolen and purchased alien technology as well as technology acquired from the future. Major modifications were made to the phaser arrays and shield systems, and the holographic Doctor's programme was expanded to allow him to interact with the crew, leave sickbay and pursue interests outside the world of medicine. Without these upgrades it is unlikely Voyager would have survived its time in the Delta Quadrant.

External links

• USS Voyager (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/USS_Voyager) at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek WikiWiki
• "Voyager" at LCARScom.Net (http://www.lcarscom.net/fsd/voyager.html)
• "SHIP: USS Voyager" at Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site (http://www.grms.fsnet.co.uk/voyship.htm)