Navigation Navigation is the science of locating the position and plotting the course of ship s , aircraft , and spacecraft ; in the last case , the term is sometimes referred to as astrogation . By the mid - 23rd century , the Medeusan s had developed interstellar navigation to a fine art . During this time , Hikaru Sulu was considered a specialist in space navigation and weapon s . ( ) It was also at this time that the Federation maintained an automatic communications and astrogation station on the uninhabited planetoid of Gamma II . ( ) Lieutenant Commander T . Grodnick was an Instructor of Astrogation at Starfleet Academy in 2285 . ( ) Navigating . In the era of pre - spacefaring Humanity , the navigator was responsible for navigating either sea vessels or aircraft . ( ) Also during more ancient times on Earth , mariner s navigated by the star s . Later , map s and globe s were used , and with the advent of more advanced technologies such as the compass , sextant – and much later , RADAR and sonar , Earth navigators gained access to more precise tools . ( ; ; ) Once beings began to travel the stars , the navigator , or " astrogation plotter " , continued the role in space , while new technologies were developed to aid the role . An early form of space navigation technology , referred to by Chakotay as " the old - fashioned way " , were optical scanner s . ( ) LIDAR , which used laser s , was another form of air and extra - atmospheric detection and ranging – especially for navigation – technology . ( ) By the 22nd century , auto - navigation systems were utilized aboard starships . ( , et al . ) The astrogator plotted courses aboard starships and Class F shuttlecraft s during the mid - 23rd century . ( ) Subspace sensor s later became a key external component in assisting starship navigation . ( ) When the was taken beyond the galactic barrier , they were unable to return because of the lack of reference points on which to plot a return course ; this arose from the extreme sensory distortion , caused by the initial crossing of the barrier . ( ) Photic sonar was also used during this period . ( ) Alternative navigation . On occasion , when navigational sensors became inaccurate , inoperative or obsolete , alternative means could be used to assist in navigation . In 2268 , the Federation considered the possibility of employing Medeusan navigators aboard starships as a means of solving many navigational problems . ( ) Prior to this , the ship ' s computer bank s were utilized to " solve our problems of navigation . " ( ) During a ruse performed by Captain James T . Kirk in 2268 , where the crossed into the Romulan Neutral Zone , Kirk explained to the Romulan Commander that the inadvertent excursion across the zone was due to an " " instrument failure caused navigational error . " " When the Romulan Commander questioned how an instrument failure as radical as Kirk suggested went unnoticed until you were well past the neutral zone , Kirk explained that " " Accidents happen . Backup systems malfunction . We were due for overhaul two months ago . " " When again questioned by the Romulan Commander regarding the " Enterprise " s ability to navigate with said malfunction , Kirk explained that " " the error was corrected . " " ( ) During the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor , Kira Nerys learned " a little trick " that was used to evade the Cardassian ships while hiding in the Badlands . In effort to compensate for the limited sensor range in the Badland , the Bajoran pilot s used an active scan system to navigate , a system which worked by echo location . According to Kira , this was accomplished by sending out " " a modulated tetryon pulse and if it reflects off the hull of a ship we can approximate its location . " " To prevent the pulses from giving away the ship ' s position , they would alter course and speed following every scan . ( ) In 2374 , Seven of Nine and Harry Kim merged Starfleet and Borg ingenuity to create this new technology that incorporated " returning to that tried - and - true method " of navigating by the stars . The technology worked by using the astrometric sensors to measure the radiative flux of up to three billion stars at one time . The ship ' s computer would then calculate the ship ' s position relative to the center of the galaxy . The new mapping technology was considered to be ten times more accurate than current technology , and was able to eliminate five years from the ship ' s journey to Earth through the Delta Quadrant . ( ) The following year , when the became trapped in chaotic space , it was suggested that the ship " drop a series of beacon s " to assist in their navigation out of that region of space . ( )