The design seems very "ProtoType-ish", which matches the NX registry. The fact that phaser strips aren't even mounted on the hull seems like a "We were going to install it next week", but some how the ship ended up where it is for ___ reasons. Edit: They now look at the Bridge:
To me it seems like it has Kelvin era design elements. As for lack of Phaser strips... yeah... I noticed that too, unless weapon systems are different for this experimental ship which eliminated the strips as we know them for some reason and were replaced with maybe pulse phaser turrets all over the saucer (which would be too small to see visually). Either that, or the ship could be using a similar technology as the future armor we saw from Endgame (last VOY episode), which would indicate that weapons could be 'deployed' (aka materialized on the hull as needed). Or, the ship doesn't have any weapons. As for how the ship ended up where it is... meh, probably Slipstream (v2 - 10 000 Ly's per minute) or UFP was experimenting with Transwarp again using their own version of TW coils (Borg inspired), or used enhanced Warp drive (similar to what we saw in that episode with Silver blood copies), or Coaxial Warp... or, something else... possibly a wormhole. If the ship was manned at some point, we'd need to find out what happened to the crew in that case... or we could learn they all died. Or the ship was on a fully automated trial run... experiment gone wrong, and ended up in the DQ (or an entity like the Q decided to play a prank on UFP - maybe preventing them from using better propulsion technologies for whatever reason - since UFP is still stuck with slow Warp in 32nd century).
At some point during VGR it was mentioned Starfleet had sent ships out to meet Voyager halfway with supplies and equipment. I don't remember if they specified if they were crewed or not, but that's my theory on where this ship came from. Autopilot set to rendezvous with Voyager and help it get back home. Like the Dauntless, except not a trick.
Only difficulty is where did the Janeway hologram come from? Unless she had prerecorded a training hologram, like Bashier was doing for the new EMH, prior to being lost in the Delta Quadrant.
This would make sense. And maybe they programed those ships with an ECH of Janeway recorded before she departed for the Badlands.
They'd already have Janeway's image and biography/psychological profile from before Voyager was lost, plus they'd be able to update with the logs Voyager transmitted after the ship regained contact with Starfleet. As for why, if they were anticipating a generational trip for Voyager, then it'd make sense to include teaching tools so the kids could get more of the Academy experience than the officers and holodeck programs on a normal ship would be able to provide, and since the children of the crew would've already been raised to respect, if not idolize Janeway (like Naomi did), it makes sense to use her image for a virtual instructor instead of some random admiral at the Academy now, or from Starfleet history. (Okay, that'd be pretty great, though. "Ahead, warp factor five.... Hello, Naomi! I'm James T. Kirk! You'll go where I go, discover what I discover, violate the directives I violate!")
The context of the ships that Starfleet sent Voyager’s way in “Lifeline” suggested to me they were already en route and on mission. That they had ships almost thirty years away from Earth (at warp 8+ speeds) is a whole topic unto itself, really. Perhaps smaller ships, or known classes rigged for looooong duration missions and crewed by species that live long and don’t mind being away from home for decades. Vulcans, looking’ at you… My gut feel agrees with one scenario above that she was being tested with a new drive or something, and something went wrong. Maybe it was an unmanned propulsion test flight (which we’ve seen in episodes like TNG “New Ground”), or the original crew managed to evacuate, there are some options to determine how this happened. An unmanned test flight conveniently explains the lack of an EMH, mind you. Anyway, here’s what I had to say in the USS Protostar in the Future of Trek forum: *** Going by the bridge size up top, I’d say this was roughly NX-Enterprise size in length, but smaller in volume due to the saucer shape. It’s easily the sleekest and most advanced looking of the hero ships on the various series thus far in this production era of Trek, built for speed, and I like it. The hull detailing itself feels kinda like what we saw in the 32nd century (the most incongruous element of the design IMO, along with the round and vaguely JJ-style nacelles), and there are no traditional phaser strips visible. The bridge looks like it may have a large transparent dome that this picture suggests might be turned opaque. The maybe-windows on the port rim would size nicely for a large lounge or mess hall - but what would that make the lit windows on the bow? The ventral hatchway could fold up and still house a deflector - interested in seeing what happens down there, and how the inevitable engineering room may also be housed in the secondary hull. In the broad strokes, this feels like it could easily be a post-Voyager TNG design, even including the bulbous bridge blister that contains some familiar station layouts while upgrading to a truly spectacular view. The etymology of the ship’s name has two meanings to me - PROTOtype STARship is one, but the Latin derivative “before star” carries a metaphor of her crew, being the youths that will be shaped over time to become people that Starfleet would be proud to have. Of course, we have the Nebula, Galaxy, Nova, Luna and other quasi-canon class names in this era’s Starfleet lexicon, so Protostar-class fits just as well. Overall it looks very 1950s jet fighter to me. Metallic hull, protruding cockpit, and nacelles that evoke the cars of the same period. Look up picture of the “Century Series” planes of that era to see what I mean. It’s a hot rod! Mark
The Admiral said they redirected two deep-space vessels to rendezvous with Voyager... and if all went well, they were expected to meet them in 5 to 6 years (makes you wonder if in the original timeline those ships actually met with Voyager - but there was 0 mention of them pass that episode) - it suggests these 2 ships were already in deep space for a while... and I doubt that SF would send NX class ships (with experimental technologies that were still being tested) so far out. If something went wrong, SF would want to recover those ships with relative ease. The registry number of the Protostar suggests the ship was built some time after Voyager disappeared. Voyager's registry is 74656... Protostar's is 7688, and if they're indicative of how many ships SF has.... It would suggest that SF built 2227 ships before building the Protostar. With UFP being massive in the 24th century (over 150 alien species in it), it could easily leverage each and every member world star systems (which would realistically have their own versions of Utopia Planitias - maybe not as big, but modern and mostly up to par) it could have easily built this number of ships within a year of launching Voyager (but it also depends on how many ships UPF builds every year and how old the Protostar is). Technologically and resource wise, UFP could easily build thousands of ships all over UFP in a few months (probably less - all those replicators, transporters and computerized automation would definitely shorten construction times). In peacetime, its likely SF is not building as many ships as it would during a war (or just after war - ala 'recovery period'), and I wouldn't put 1000 ships per year during peace time out of the question... during wartime, it would probably be a lot more (possibly along the lines of 5 - 10 times more when you factor in the premise that one drydock per each star system = 150 ships... if you have 10 drydocks per star system doing the work, that increases to 1500 ships... if you have 20 drydocks per star system, then that would be 3000 ships... and if you have 50 drydocks per star system, it would mean 7500 ships). My guess is that all UFP member species planets would have comparable number of construction yard facilities. At the very least, they would all be up to spec and at minimum have about 20 - 50 drydocks each. Its possible SF was experimenting with advanced post-Warp technologies (as I mentioned them above) after Voyager returned and something could have gone wrong in the process which resulted in the ship ending up in the DQ.
Experimental ship gone wrong? Another caretaker or similar array? Captured by the Borg but then Endgame happens and they all escape.
I was wondering if the traditionally-located Con and Ops stations were at too severe an angle, but then I saw that there is a forward-center console a few steps down. I can't tell if it has a seat or not, but with it being at least five steps down from the CO chair, I'm guessing that there's plenty of room to see over that person's head whether they're sitting or standing. So what are the flanking consoles for, if the forward one is the steering wheel? Ops and Tactical, a la Voyager? From the two pictures of the bridge seen above, I've done a super rough sketch of the bridge. I gotta say, it's a pretty nice looking layout so far! https://www.instagram.com/p/CR2T9G8BzCH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Mark
I think the two ships are different. As the Romulans did in Tin Man..get the speedster there first, and a supply heavy Stargazer deal with a lot of redundancies as the second. Maybe use warp staging as we saw in The Time Trap
He died. Though admittedly there's Suspiria and a smaller array filled with Ocampa, but we hadn't seen or heard from her or those Ocampa since that one episode, so I doubt they would play a part. Its an experimental ship... so its likely an experiment gone wrong.
Suspiria and Ocampa's smaller Array being in the mix makes little sense to me (haven't heard anything from them beyond that 1 episode, so I doubt they would play a part). The experimental ship gone wrong seems most plausible (and it makes sense it would occur a year or two [possibly more] after Voyager returned - putting all the knowledge and technologies to the test on that particular platform - even if its not newest - it could have been built 2 years after Voyager went missing... and upgraded sometime after Endgame finished with those technologies Voyager discovered). As for the Borg capturing the ship and then scramming with events of Endgame... the ship didn't seem partly assimilated, nor it was adrift in space (which would seem more likely if the Borg were involved - the USS Raven not counting because the Hansens had problems with power reserves, damage and were forced to land - the Protostar on the other hand didn't seem in such a bad condition), plus the timeframe seems too early.
I do think the Shingled Hull Panels are very interesting and allows a evolution of hull design post ST:Nemesis for a more "Armored" design in StarFleet ship design.
I think it was sent just before Endgame and failed to return when recalled…looking beached on that crevice. The second ship? Who knows? Same model, but recalled. Older but suffering com failure and still in transit?