- "Looking out at the cosmos, you may wonder how a star is born. Usually, swirling hydrogen is compressed by gravity over time until it ignites. But if you want to make a special star, say, to power our Protostar Drive to get us back to "Voyager," you need a special kind of matter, the perfect matter: Bosonite, with all the exotic properties we need. Now that the protostar's fixed up, Janeway found an M-Class planet with a natural supply. All we need is to pick some up and make our own perfect star to get us home."
- —Cadet Rok-Tahk, 2384[src]
Protostars are celestial bodies that precede the formation of stars following the start of nuclear fusion. It could also emit high levels of magnetascopic interference.(ST reference: Star Trek Encyclopedia; TNG episode: "Preemptive Strike")
History and specifics[]
Protostars produce very high amounts of radiation and are possessed of gravity wells, including associated space-time anomalies. (TOS video game: Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator)
In 2151, the SS Enterprise discovered a protostar that was not the Vulcans' starcharts. In 2373, Commander Worf encountered a cluster of protostars during a scouting mission in the Gamma Quadrant. A group of Borothan pilgrims believe that the Great Plume of Agosoria's burst were from a protostar.(ENT episodes: "The Andorian Incident", "Cold Front"; DS9 episode: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
Jadzia Dax had studied protostars, research that was put to practical use on a mission during the Dominion War. Jadzia's research would enable the USS Defiant to pass safely through the Argolis Cluster. (DS9 episode: "Behind the Lines")
According to Ensign Harry Kim, a type-6 protostar could theoretically be detonated to open a wormhole. In the 2380s, Starfleet was able to design the Protostar-class prototype USS Protostar and use a protostar to power its Protostar drive. The protostars used were made from bosonite. The Protostar and USS Prodigy were able to use these drives to go faster than conventional warp drives.(VOY episode: "The Omega Directive"; PRD episodes: "Kobayashi", "Time Amok", "A Tribble Called Quest", "Ouroboros")
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Appendices[]
References[]
External link[]
Protostar article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.