Discovery class

## SPACECRAFT CLASS

*"We've taken everything that worked with the Intrepid and improved it. This is a ship that will be at the forefront of Starfleet explorations for years to come."* - Commander Jacob Kurtz
The ***Discovery*-class** was a type of starship developed by Starfleet in the late 24th century. It was derived from the *Intrepid*-class.

## Technical specifications

Continuing the ideals of its parent design, the *Discovery*-class was built with extensive science facilities and laboratories, including the most advanced astrometrics lab of its time. The labs also had robust emergency systems that automatically put experiments into stasis in an accident or emergency.

The variable-geometry pylons of the design were improved from the *Intrepid*-class. They had a seven percent less energy loss and featured warp foils. The warp foils would extend when the vessels were at warp and were designed to increase the stability of *Discovery*-class vessels at high warp speeds.

The *Discovery*-class was also a testbed for a dilithium matrix chamber that allowed for a ship to use damaged dilithium crystals for brief intervals.

### Aeroshuttle

As with the *Intrepid* and *Cochrane*-classes, *Discovery* vessels were equipped with a ventrally docked subordinate craft: a VAR-4 *Aero*-class shuttle (generally known as an "aeroshuttle"). The craft was designed for atmospheric operations, and short-term missions as a support vessel, rather than as an independently operating small craft like the *Danube*-class on which it was based.

### Landing mechanism

Like the *Intrepid* and *Nova*-classes before it, the *Discovery*-class was designed with the ability to enter a planet's atmosphere and land on the surface. As such, vessels were equipped with antigravity generators and impulse lifters on the underside of both the primary and secondary hulls and landing pads on the lower section of the star drive hull. Vessels of the class would enter blue alert when performing a planetary landing.

## Appendices

### Connections

**Project groups:** **Union Station** (*Geneva* • *Concorde* • *Presidio*) • **Century Cruiser** (*Springfield* • *New Orleans* • *Challenger* • *Niagara* • *Freedom II* • *Galaxy* • *Nebula* • *Cheyenne*) • **Multi-Mission explorers** (*Brigid* • *Esquiline* • *Palatine*) • **Deep Shadow** (*Eclipse* • *Phantom* • *Scryer*) • **Miracle Worker** (*Scott* • *Daystrom* • *Tucker* • *Gagarin*) • **Aeronaut** (*Mercury* • *Ajax* • *Icarus* • *Shran*)

**Other named classes:** *Aegian* • *Aerie* • *Akula* • *Atlas* • *California* • *Centaur* • *Challenger* • *Cheyenne* • *Constellation* • *Constitution III* • *Crossfield* • *Curry* • *Daedalus* • *Dauntless* • *Excelsior II* • *Freedom II* • *Gemini* • *Glenn* • *Guardian* • *Inquiry* • *Iwo Jima* • *Jupiter* • *Lexington* • *Niagara* • *Obena* • *Okinawa* • *Parliament* • *Perseus* • *Pioneer* • *Ranger* • *Sagan* • *Solanae* • *Springfield* • *Turing* • *Ulysses*

**Auxiliary craft:** *Aero* • Class C • Class F • *Danube* • *Flyer* • *Gondola* • *Kodai* • *Mollard* • *Peregrine* • *Selenic* • Type 4 • Type 5 • Type 6 (Type 6A • Type 6S) • Type 7 • Type 8 • Type 9 (Type 9A) • Type 10 • Type 11 • Type 14 • Type 17 • Type 19 • *Valkyrie* • *Venture* • *Waverider* • *Yellowstone*

**Leadership:** Commander-in-chief • Joint Chiefs • Chief of Starfleet External Affairs • Chief of Starfleet Operations • Chief of Starfleet Research and Exploration • Chief of Starfleet Tactical

**Agencies:** Operations (Engineering • Judicial • Materiel Supply • Mission Operations • Personnel Management • Records Service • Shipyards Operations • Starbase Operations) • Research & Exploration (Science • Medical) • External Affairs • Tactical (Intelligence • Security • MACO)

**Notable units:** Ktarn Fleet • Task Force 77

**Facilities:** Deep Space K-7 • Deep Space K-13 • Deep Space 9 • Masamichi Array • Starbase 45-Keepsake • Starbase 82-Maat • Starbase 234-Beskerm • Starbase 247-Vershina

**Agencies:** Starfleet • Diplomatic Corps • Department of Temporal Investigations • Federation Security Agency

**Facilities:** 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards • Antares Ship Yards • Beta Antares Ship Yards • Copernicus Ship Yards • Laikan Starfleet Shipyards • McKinley Station • Memory Project • New Aberdeen Shipyards • Proxima Maintenance Yards • Salazaar Shipyards • San Francisco Fleet Yards • TL-9139 Starfleet Maintenance Yards • Tranquility Base • Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

### Sources consulted

* Discovery class (Federation) article at *Memory Beta*.
* Intrepid class article at the *Star Trek Online Wiki*.
* Starfleet - Discovery class at StarTrekOnline.com (archived)

### Footnotes

1. ↑ Starfleet Discovery class at StarTrekOnline.com (archived).