Voyager 6 Voyager 6 was a deep space probe launched from Earth by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) in the latter half of the 20th century . The sixth probe in the Voyager series , it was designed to collect data and transmit it back to Earth . ( ) Technical information . " Voyager 6 " was equipped with an antenna and a ground test computer , for use in communicating with Earth . It was designed to transmit a signal relaying its readiness to transmit the information gathered , and to do so upon receipt of a code signal instructing the computer to transmit the data . ( ) History . During its mission , " Voyager 6 " disappeared into what was once called a black hole ( see " V ' ger " ) , emerging on the other side of the galaxy , where it fell into the gravitational field of a planet populated by a race of living machines . The inhabitants found the probe to be one of their own kind , primitive , yet kindred . Discovering its simple , 20th century programming , which directed " Voyager " to collect all data possible and return that information to the creator , the machines interpreted it literally , and constructed a massive vessel around the probe in order to facilitate that directive . On its journey back to Earth , it amassed so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness itself , becoming a living thing . In the 2270s , the entity was detected by Starfleet en route to Earth , and was intercepted by the , whose crew was able to discover the fate of the long - lost probe . ( ) Appendices . Background information . According to , " Voyager 6 " was launched in 1999 . According to Decker ' s line in the movie , however , it was launched " " more than 300 years ago " " . This suggests a launch date sometime before or in the early 1970s . In the real world , the actual launches of the first ( and only ) two " Voyager " probes took place in 1977 . The fictional " Voyager 6 " probe around which " V ' ger " was built , was actually a full - scale mock - up of the real world " Voyager " 1 and 2 probes of NASA ' s Jet Propulsion Laboratories ( JPL ) . JPL ' s director John Casani agreed to loan the model to the studio in October 1977 , mere months after the actual " Voyager " probes were launched in August and September that year . Then " " ( the immediate predecessor of " The Motion Picture " ) Producer Robert Goodwin reported in a progress memo , dated 21 October 1977 , " " After your conversation with John Casani at Jet Propulsion Laboratories , JPL has agreed to loan us the mock - up of the Voyager , to be used as part of our set as the interior of the Alien Spaceship " [ note : indicating that the name " V ' ger " had not yet been conceived at the time ] " . Joe Jennings and Matt Jefferies attended a briefing in JPL last night in the Voyager and Joe Jennings will return there next week with Bud Arbuckle to get measurements so that we can incorporate this large full - scale mock - up into our plans for the set . " " ( " " , p . 52 ) The text commentary on the DVD even stated that JPL was willing to even go a step further and loan the production an actual engineering duplicate of the Voyager spacecraft , but the studio declined , saying that the risk of the duplicate being damaged on the set was too high . Apocrypha . The William Shatner novel " The Return " , in which Kirk and Picard join forces to lead an assault on the Borg homeworld and end the recent Borg / Romulan alliance once and for all presents the theory that a Borg transwarp conduit consumed the probe rather than a black hole , and that the planet seen by Spock was in fact , the Borg homeworld . The suggestion continues that the Borg assimilated the probe , yet the assimilation went " afoul " and changed " Voyager 6 " into a more sentient being . " " presented the theory that the 20th century Borg civilization was a peaceful race . When " V ' ger " encountered them , they studied its programming , repaired the probe , and sent it on its task . When " V ' ger " returned to the Sol system it could not find its creator , but " a biological infestation . " The probe returned to the Borg homeworld and joined with them , and its programming propagated throughout the Collective . Something of a civil war broke out . Massive amounts of knowledge , including the location of Earth , were lost in the resulting conflict , and the Borg of the 24th century were born .