Nova class model Though having made only appearances in the episodes , , as well as an otherwise undisclosed futuristic cameo version in s third season episode , , the design of this little , feisty ship did became a favorite of " Star Trek " production staffers and fans alike . As a class , the ship was already mentioned by its eventual designer in the 1991 reference book " " , where it was supposed to be a successor of the starship as the next primary explorer ship of Starfleet . Four different concept designs were presented on pages 177 and 178 . Years later , the " Nova " - class idea was revitalized , though this time for an altogether different purpose . Design . The final design of the " Nova " - class starship model , as featured , was conceived by Rick Sternbach for " Equinox " . It was based on the " Pathfinder " design , whose top view was depicted in the " " , the illustration of which was constructed in Adobe ' s Illustrator software by Doug Drexler . The " Pathfinder " was part of the background story in the " Manual " Sternbach devised to describe the design history of what was to become the . Sternbach , using tracing paper over the " Defiant " design for a basic sketch of the design , drew half a nacelle and half a ship body with a center - line which could be flop - copied . The sketch was turned over to Doug Drexler who produced the final drawing for the " Manual " . When asked to come up with a new design for a new small science vessel , Sternbach first considered doing a refit of the , but dismissed the idea since that design was over eighty years old . He then recalled the design he had done for the " Manual " a year earlier , " " The Nova class USS " Equinox " began as a small pencil drawing of a ship that was to have been the space - going equivalent of a PT boat in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant theaters . In the fictional history of the USS " Defiant " , as recorded in the DS9 " Technical Manual " , a fast and heavily armed " Borg Buster " with multiple torpedo launchers was modified with tucked - in engines and new ablative armor to fight the Cardassians , the Jem ' Hadar , and the Dominion , among various other Alpha Quadrant baddies . The pathfinder form of that fast attack ship existed as a single top view until one day when the " Voyager " script " Equinox " appeared . It called for a new science vessel that had also been unceremoniously yanked into the Delta Quadrant by – guess who – the Caretaker . " " Sternbach devised a background story elaborating on the history he had done for the " Manual " where the shelved " Pathfinder " hull design was re - appraised by the ASDB ( Advanced Starship Design Bureau , the name Sternbach came up with to signify the research and development arm of Starfleet ) for it to become the . He submitted the idea and a copy of the " Pathfinder " drawing to supervising producer Peter Lauritson , who gave his approval thereby affirming that " " the " Defiant " pathfinder was definitely the origin of the " Equinox " , in production as well as in non - canon backstory . " " On fine - tuning the design , Sternbach remarked : " The design followed the basic Starfleet plan of a forward hull , engineering hull , and nacelles on pylons , though most of the shapes were given sharper edges and angles . I incorporated some stylistic elements from John Eaves ' " Enterprise " - E as a possible ASDB " sibling " , particularly in the pylon plasma flush vents and Bussard collectors . I also gave a tip o ' the hat to Todd Guenther with the notching of the forward hull , a feature he employed in his home grown volumes " Ships of the Star Fleet " . The design cycle was almost as complex as that for " Voyager " herself , with ortho preliminaries and final blueprints , and perspective line art and detail sketches . The phaser strips were redesigned . I continued the trend of giving some Starfleet ships a large shuttle - like embedded craft , as Andy Probert did with the captain ' s yacht on the " Enterprise " - D , John Eaves did on " Enterprise " - E , and I did with the " Aeroshuttle " on " Voyager " . " The arrow - shaped craft on the " Equinox " underside is a hypersonic " waverider " shuttle , a highly fuel - efficient vehicle at Mach 5 and above . Tim Earls , a set designer on " Voyager " and a veteran of " Babylon 5 " and later " Serenity " , contributed a preliminary set of elevation views that helped nail the overall mass of the vessel and the creation of the cutaway graphic . " More windows were added to the " Pathfinder " design , along with a new exterior bridge design . The " Pathfinder " design featured two forward - facing torpedo tubes where the auxiliary deflector was to be located and were moved beside the deflector in Sternback ' s " Nova " . ( Although " " lists the " Nova " as having only two torpedo launchers , the design probably has at least three because the " Equinox " fired an aft torpedo in " Equinox , Part II " . } Sternbach also envisioned the " Equinox " of having landing capabilities akin to the , " " The three door - like things are retracted landing feet , yep . The other objects are RCS , as you surmised . On the CG render there seems to be a half - round V - shaped dimensional " fence " on the waverider belly , which is probably just an interpretation of a soft break in the belly shape in the blueprint . Not my doing , but I ' ll accept it as some type of structural reinforcement or active boundary layer controller . " " CGI models . In March 1999 Sternbach ' s design received final approval from the effects supervisors and the design was sent to Digital Muse , where Eddie Robison built and animated the model in the software . Robison kept in contact with Sternbach during the build in order to iron out detailing and the finished ship was a very close approximation to the design as conceived . " " The CG model was initially built pristine , and then the textures were altered to look burnt and broken . From what I ' ve seen in LightWave , you can subdivide a group of polygons where , say , you want to make it appear that a phaser hit has smashed away bits of the hull plating , and remove or distort those polygons until they look twisted , vaporized , and so on . Some of the digital modelling tools are quite remarkable . " " , Sternbach further noted . ( ) The " Nova " - class refit that appeared in " Endgame " featured many changes , performance or visual - wise . Additions include a dome added to the bridge , impulse engines combined to one reactor on deck 1 , and its auxiliary deflector reduced greatly and triangular - shaped . The gap in front of it is filled in . Portions of the Bussard collector s were covered by hull plating and the dorsal intercooler s were reduced to one on each warp nacelle from two . Finally , the ship ' s escape pod s were replaced with pods from the . Modifications and remapping were done by Robert Bonchune at Foundation Imaging who remarked , " " I did not come up with the name , but was allowed to come up with the NCC number and do whatever I liked to the shape . I always liked the ship , kind of like a small corvette Starship and I figured in a future time it would have been smoothed out and more organic . I also tried to tie it in to the " Enterprise " - E ( or a Standard Starship ) in some ways in terms of smoothness and escape hatches , intercoolers etc . I tried to make her look like she was moving fast and slick even standing still . I was going to make other changes to the bottom , but ran out of time for the show . ( One reason why I shot her in the scenes from the top as much as possible ) We had SO much to do on that finally , it was mind boggling ! " " Unlike with the " Intrepid " - class , for which Bonchune built the " Aeroshuttle " , the " waverider " was not further explored : " " I don ' t remember doing the shuttle for it . I know I did some textures and such , but not the design / model itself . " " Conceived well into the CGI age , no physical production model was ever constructed of the design .