Friendship 1

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

For the VOY episode of the same name, please see Friendship One.

Friendship 1 was a deep space probe launched by the United Earth Space Probe Agency in 2067 with the purpose of finding other species. The probe contained a great deal of technological, scientific, and cultural information, such as translation matrices, data on computer chips, transceivers, and warp drive, and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.

The opening greeting of the probe was: "We the people of Earth greet you in a spirit of peace and humility. As we venture out of our solar system, we hope to earn the trust and friendship of other worlds." Both Harry Kim and Tom Paris had to memorize the greeting in third grade.

Starfleet lost contact with the probe in 2247. Friendship 1 eventually landed on a planet in the Delta Quadrant. The inhabitants of the planet learned about antimatter from the probe and applied it in a planetary power grid. However, they lacked the technological expertise to utilize it safely and antimatter was accidentally released, causing a nuclear winter and contaminating the surface with antimatter radiation.

In 2377, Starfleet charged the USS Voyager with finding the probe, its first official mission in seven years. They came into conflict with the survivors on the planet where Friendship 1 landed, who blamed Humans for giving them the information that caused their self-destruction. Eventually, Voyager was able to eliminate the radiation by triggering an atmospheric isolytic reaction with its photon torpedoes. (VOY: "Friendship One")

[edit] Background

The Friendship 1 studio model was designed by Rick Sternbach. It possessed warp nacelles that were reminiscent of those of the Phoenix, and the head of the probe was not dissimilar to the top of the Nomad probe.

The Friendship 1 emblem (pictured) appeared to be the traditional Starfleet/Enterprise "arrowhead" insignia, with the United Nations banner inside it – marking the first chronologically known use of the famous ship's mission insignia, and one of the few times it was used, chronologically, prior to TOS's Enterprise.