We know that UESPA was still active enough to warrant mentioning in TOS. So will Discovery sail under that aegis? At least enough to warrant a brief mention? Or will the producers just write it off as too obscure?
UESPA only got one reference in Enterprise, and that was towards the end of the series. Or literally the end, it was the Terra Prime story. Some people don't count the episode that came after that.
It's a new series. They could state it in the very first episode. It's not so obscure as it would derail the story. Old fans would get the reference and new fans would learn something new. Not hard to imagine working under multiple agencies. There are a lot of organizations today that do that. Look, here is a list of US Navy commands: 1 Commander, United States Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT) 1.1 Commander, United States Third Fleet 1.2 Commander, United States Seventh Fleet 1.3 Commander, Naval Surface Force, United States Pacific Fleet (COMSURFPAC) 1.4 Commander, Submarine Force, United States Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) 1.5 Commander, Naval Air Force, United States Pacific Fleet (COMNAVAIRPAC) 2 Commander, United States Fleet Forces Command 2.1 Commander, Naval Surface Forces, United States Atlantic Fleet 2.2 Commander, Submarine Force, United States Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT) 2.3 Commander, Naval Air Force, United States Atlantic Fleet (COMNAVAIRLANT) 2.4 Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command 2.5 Commander, Military Sealift Command 3 U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/Fourth Fleet 4 U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Sixth Fleet 5 U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Fifth Fleet 6 U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/Tenth Fleet 7 Naval Special Warfare Command 8 Naval Network Warfare Command 9 Naval Reserve Force 10 Operational Test and Evaluation Force 11 Disbandments 12 References UESPA is just an command division like COMSUBLANT or Cyber Command. I'd rather see Discovery operate under a different authority though. I like the nod to TOS but this would also allow greater world building. Enterprise operated under UESPA, Discovery under a different service. All are part of Starfleet.
Like lasers, Vulcanians, Lithium crystals and time-warp factors, I think United Earth Space Probe Agency is on the scrap heap of retconned-away terminology, next to "Space Central" and all the other names they referred to as their home base before settling on "Starfleet" I doubt it'll be mentioned. It was only on ENT because the art department snuck it in where they could.
I for one would love to see stuff like Vulcanians make a comeback, preferably unexplained... Just because. It's a different decade, after all. Timo Saloniemi
If the characters go around saying "yoo-spah," the audience will have no idea what the hell they're talking about. Everyone knows "Starfleet." That's what they'll be saying.
Someone can say 'Starfleet is taking over UESPA, the only ship they have left is some old rust bucket called Enterprise'...
^The problem with that is that the name "Starfleet" had already been established as the Federation's primary space agency a century before both in ENT and ST Beyond.
The UESPA sounds like governmental oversight to me. For instance, "Admiral <whatever> made a Nazi planet, he's gonna have to answer to the bean counters at UESPA."
UESPA negotiator: "You don't have to pay us, but could you at least move the bridge off the top of the ship?" Starfleet management: "No dice."
^ Or UESPA negotiator: "The redshirts demand a 10% pay rise for danger money." Starfleet management: "As of today, The Federation Finance Act 2263 A.D Sol is enforced, money no longer exists."
The fans will know what UESPA is, and for a sizable chunk of the general audience coming in, Star Trek's details will be a relative unknown. There certainly wouldn't be any reason to excluded UESPA, although coming up with a different way of pronouncing it as a word might be a consideration. Maybe "You-ee spa?" Or simply "the agency." Modern audiences are sophisticated enough to understand that the hero ship is ultimately a small cog in a big machine, and the organizations above it likely have many arms and more than a few heads. So the ship is part of a military command structure, there is a civilian authority, and there is "a vast alliance" in play as well.
I've always pronunced it you-es-pa. Interesting to see the different pronunciations. I think a nod like we saw in ENT and VOY would be a nice easter egg for the current fans, but wouldn't distract the new fan base that is (hopefully) being built.
In my head canon, TATV was based on historical fiction found in the holodeck library, and never really occurred. All the more reason for "you-es-pa" If you believe some kind of homogenization of language has occurred a la Firefly. Not that this ever was much of a theme in Trek.