Terra Nova Located less than twenty light year s from the Sol system , Terra Nova was an inhabited M class planet with at least two moon s . As their first extrasolar colony , Terra Nova was colonized by Human s in 2078 , who would later refer to themselves as Novan s . There were several native animal species on the planet , including a type of burrowing animal , referred to by the Novans as a Digger , as well as flying animals . ( ) History . By 2069 , Humans had already established themselves within their own solar system , having founded New Berlin on the Moon , Utopia Planitia on Mars , and a few asteroid bases . Deep space became the next frontier for the species , and the question began to be asked : " " Could Humans colonize deep space ? " " Terra Nova was discovered in the mid - 21st century by astronomer s working for the Space Agency . Due to its proximity to Earth , the decision was made to establish a colony on the planet . The success of such a colony was considered uncertain from the start , and the expedition became known as " the Great Experiment . " Captain was selected to lead the expedition . Nearly two hundred colonists , made up of specialist s and families , would be selected to join him on this mission . The journey to Terra Nova from Earth would take nine years at the warp speeds attainable in that period . The was commissioned for the task , and was specially constructed so that it could be dismantled on arrival to serve as homes and service buildings for the colony . The " Conestoga " arrived at her destination on June 23 , 2078 . Captain Mitchell oversaw the groundbreaking for the colony shortly thereafter . The very first transmissions from the colony were broadcast worldwide on Earth , and the population watched entranced as Humanity made its first claim on the cosmos . The colony proved to be amazingly successful , a fully - functioning community on a world in deep space . Earth grew interested in repeating the experience . Working from the position that " nothing succeeds like success , " in 2083 the heads of the Space Agency announced their intentions to launch a second ship full of colonists to Terra Nova . The colonists already living on Terra Nova were not amenable to the idea of now having to share the home they ' d struggled to build . An organized opposition arose , led by a man named Mark Logan . Relations with Earth became severely strained , culminating with Logan ' s transmitting threats of violence upon any ships that entered the planet ' s orbit . Tragically , that was the last message received from Terra Nova . Earth lost contact with the colony shortly thereafter . The Space Agency decided that it didn ' t have the resources to launch an investigation , and it was decided that the fate of the Terra Nova colony would have to remain a mystery . ( ) Rediscovery . In June 2151 , an away team from discovered the irradiated remains of the colony , and it was determined that the colony had been destroyed by a meteor strike , scattering toxic debris over the region . However , the children of the original colonists had survived the meteor strike , and had taken refuge in underground caverns in order to avoid the radioactive surface . The original colonists believed that Earth had attacked them because of the hostile nature of their last transmissions , an impression shared by their 22nd century descendants still living on the planet . The Novans , as they called themselves , subsequently took members of the away team hostage . Eventually the " Enterprise " crew was able to gain the trust of the Novans , convincing them that Earth was not responsible for destroying the original colony . As the underground water supply the Novans used to survive had slowly become contaminated by the surface radiation , the Novan population was eventually relocated to a region unaffected by the meteor strike . ( ) Appendices . Background information . " " Terra Nova " " was Latin for " New Earth " . The name of the planet also served as the name of the episode , making it one of nine " Star Trek " episodes with a Latin title . According to " " : According to " " , the Terra Nova colony was located around the star 61 Cygni A , a real star 11 . 4 light - years from Earth . However , the " Star Trek : Star Charts " ( pp . 18 - 19 ) establishes that system as the location of Tellar .