Rigel X Rigel X ( also known as The Rigel Colony ) was the inhabited tenth planet in the Rigel system . The planet was home to a native species of large flies and a variety of colorful butterflies . ( ) The planet was affiliated with the United Federation of Planets . ( ) Location . Rigel X was located less than ninety light year s away from Earth . ( ) History . Some time before 2151 , the Rigel Colony was established on Rigel X . The colony was a trade complex consisting of thirty - six levels and populated by numerous different species . ( ) In 2151 , the Klingon Klaang visited Rigel X to make contact with Suliban dissident Sarin . Rigel X was soon thereafter the first planet visited by ; the Earth starship " Enterprise " visited Rigel X in its search for Klaang , who had been kidnapped from the ship by the Suliban Cabal shortly before . ( ) While imprisoned at Tandaran Detention Complex 26 , Captain Jonathan Archer was reminded of " Enterprise " s visit to Rigel X , upon being questioned by Tandaran colonel Grat . Grat also informed Archer that several Tandaran men had seen the captain at Rigel X . ( ) In 2161 , " Enterprise " returned to Rigel X to help Shran rescue his daughter , Talla . It was the last world " Enterprise " visited before being decommissioned , which Captain Archer considered to be " poetic justice . " ( ) Some time before 2267 , Rigel X had become a Federation world . ( ) In 2267 , Rigel X became the next target of the planet killer , after it had disintegrated the planets in the nearby star system s L - 370 and L - 374 . The combined efforts of the starship s and destroyed the extragalactic doomsday weapon before it reached this planet . ( ) Background information . Rigel X was identified as the " Rigel colony " on a viewscreen in . Previously , the " Rigel Colonies " had been referred to in the first draft script of " " , an undeveloped installment of . Rigel was apparently not a name invented by Humans , since Vulcans and Klingons used this name in their native languages and the planet ' s location was not known to Humans before it was learned from the Vulcan star charts in . Rigel X was the first and last planet visited by " Enterprise " , not only in the fictional sense but also on - screen , from " Broken Bow " to " These Are the Voyages . . . " . For " Broken Bow " , some scenes at the trade post were filmed at the Redondo Power Plant and Hyperion Water Treatment Plant . ( text commentary , ENT Season 4 DVD ) The exterior of the alien planet ' s outpost , including its landing platform , involved a real set . A CG model of the area , created by Eden FX , was also used . " " That went through a couple of revisions as far as whether it was sitting on top of a mountain or built into the side , " " recalled Eden co - founder John Gross . " " Also the things on the roof that [ the characters ] stood next to [ . . . ] were about six feet tall , and we built everything to scale , but when we looked at our shots , Peter Lauritson commented that [ the CG version ] didn ' t look big enough . And he was right ; it looked like it was the size of the set and we wanted it to look massive , so we shrunk all those things down and it looked much better . " " The variety of elements that were integrated together to portray the surface of Rigel X in " Broken Bow " additionally included a CG snowstorm . Snow in wide shots of the planet ' s surface incorporated the digital snow effects , but Ronald B . Moore also had Eden provide him with some CG snow which he combined with the live - action footage in the compositing bay . This helped ensure that the snow in the various shots looked consistent . ( ) Eden ' s Fred Pincus was another visual effects artist who worked on representing the Rigel X complex in " Broken Bow " , an assignment he particularly enjoyed doing . ( ) In a scene that was scripted for the end of ( and included in the ENT Season 4 Blu - ray ) but never filmed , Rigel X was briefly mentioned , as one of several small rocks which Archer left at his father ' s grave had been taken by the captain from Rigel X . In the same scene , Archer commented as if to his deceased father , " " The entire planet ' s a frozen wasteland . You would ' ve hated it . " " For " These Are the Voyages . . . " , only a section of the trading complex was rebuilt , on Paramount Stage 9 . ( text commentary , ENT Season 4 DVD ) According to " " ( p . 52 ) , Rigel X was located in the Beta Rigel system , between the Sol system and Qo ' noS , not around the " true " star Rigel , which in the real world is located significantly further away from Earth . This would solve a problem in the episode , wherein it is stated that 90 light years was the farthest away from Earth any Human had ever gone up to that point . Rigel X ( Beta Rigel X ) was classified as a . The planet was a member planet of both the United Rigel Colonies and the United Federation of Planets . Rigel X was admitted , along with the United Rigel Colonies , to the Federation in 2202 . The capital was the Rigel Trade Complex . The dominant species were the humanoid Rigellian s ; however , there were many other species living on the planet . In 2378 , there were 35 . 9 million people living on Rigel X .