What if the Vulcans didn't see the Pheonix?

[Timo]

I think somebody on Earth would have put together enough resources to send at least an unmanned Warp 2 probe to explore Alpha Centauri

Did Earth already go successfully interstellar before warp was invented? We have references to failed missions: the Charybdis might or might not have been built for sublight interstellar stuff, but ended going to another star by wholly different means, while NOMAD was supposed to be interstellar in 2002 (?) already but got rear-ended by Tan Ru at an unknown point of its mission. Khan went off the deep end without anybody noticing. Etc.

Quite possibly, crewed exploration vessels might have been on their way to nearby stars before, during and after WWIII. Some might have reached their goals but, lacking subspace technology, would not be able to inform Earth until well after Cochrane's flight. No Tellarite or Andorian intercepted Khan; possibly other Earth "coasters" might reach their targets unaccosted, too, and even make first contact with some neighboring cultures.

Would Earth have united so quickly? Would it have abandoned currency-based economics? Maybe Earth would have been a much more aggressive, expansionist world.

Well, we have "In a Mirror, Darkly".

Although that supposedly takes place in the Mirror Universe, where everybody already is evil, lesbian and (when applicable) goateed, not in some sort of a "regular" alternate timeline where the parameters are otherwise identical to ours.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[alpha_leonis]

In order to detect Cochrane's fight, it was necessary for the Vulcan ship to be inside our star system. Many billion of miles away, but not light years.

Are you sure about that? I don't remember seeing any reference to such a limitation, but then my memory might be off too.

In DS9's "Future Tense" (admittedly several centuries later), once the Defiant had arrived in Earth orbit in the alternate-future timeline, they were able to quickly determine that there was a Romulan technology signature at Alpha Centauri. Not just any advanced technology, but specifically Romulan.

Considering that even in the 21st Century (less than 50 years from our own present) the Vulcans are supposedly quite a bit more advanced than us, and travelling around quite a section of the local galactic area, I think it might be quite easy for them to pick up a warp signature from an undiscovered civilization from a star they hadn't paid much attention to before. Especially if the warp trip took six months each way.

But then, you're right. Space is big. Even in the 24th Century, as far as I know the Hera is still missing. LaForge's mother never did get herself found.

 

[MacLeod]

In order to detect Cochrane's fight, it was necessary for the Vulcan ship to be inside our star system. Many billion of miles away, but not light years.

Are you sure about that? I don't remember seeing any reference to such a limitation, but then my memory might be off too.

In DS9's "Future Tense" (admittedly several centuries later), once the Defiant had arrived in Earth orbit in the alternate-future timeline, they were able to quickly determine that there was a Romulan technology signature at Alpha Centauri. Not just any advanced technology, but specifically Romulan.

Considering that even in the 21st Century (less than 50 years from our own present) the Vulcans are supposedly quite a bit more advanced than us, and travelling around quite a section of the local galactic area, I think it might be quite easy for them to pick up a warp signature from an undiscovered civilization from a star they hadn't paid much attention to before. Especially if the warp trip took six months each way.

But then, you're right. Space is big. Even in the 24th Century, as far as I know the Hera is still missing. LaForge's mother never did get herself found.

Wasn't it Romulan transmission they detected?

 

[Ronald Held]

Do we know if there were Vulcan sensor probes in our outer Solar System undetectable by 21th century Science?

 

[Melakon]

Do we know if there were Vulcan sensor probes in our outer Solar System undetectable by 21th century Science?

We haven't found them yet.

 

[Ronald Held]

Do we know if there were Vulcan sensor probes in our outer Solar System undetectable by 21th century Science?

We haven't found them yet.

I should recast for the Prime solar system.

 

[Enterprise1701]

In the Myriad Universes novella The Tears of Eridanus, set in a reality where Surak was apparently killed before he could achieve the Time of Awakening, the Andorians make first contact with Earth and transform it from a backwater planet in the 21st century to a leading member of the Interstellar Union (this reality's version of the United Federation of Planets) in the 23rd century.

But then, you're right. Space is big. Even in the 24th Century, as far as I know the Hera is still missing. LaForge's mother never did get herself found.

Well if you read the novel Indistinguishable From Magic, then you would know (in non-canon Star Trek) that the loss of the Hera was a very unusual situation.

Do we know if there were Vulcan sensor probes in our outer Solar System undetectable by 21th century Science?

Well in ENT - "Carbon Creek", set in 1957-1958, T'Pol's ancestor and her fellow surveyors accidentally crash-landed on Earth. Due to equipment damage, they were uncertain if their subspace transceiver had sent their distress call, but they thought it a plausible outcome. They later find out that a Tellarite freighter indeed received it and sent it onto the Vulcan High Command.

 

[Sci]

In the Myriad Universes novella The Tears of Eridanus, set in a reality where Surak was apparently killed before he could achieve the Time of Awakening, the Andorians make first contact with Earth and transform it from a backwater planet in the 21st century to a leading member of the Interstellar Union (this reality's version of the United Federation of Planets) in the 23rd century.

Well, kind of. As Sulu notes in that novel, that's a very Andorian-centric way of viewing the Earh/Andor relationship in that timeline. And while it is a democracy with non-Andorians in leadership roles (including head of state), the Interstellar Union is depicted as being very much dominated by Andorian culture -- particularly the Interstellar Guard, which is basically the Imperial Guard by another name.