The dinghy.
A research dinghy was a type of spacecraft attached to Federation starships.
History and specifications
The research dinghy was boat-shaped, smaller and slightly faster than a shuttlecraft, and was virtually all sensors, capable of picking up highly detailed readings, from to wind shifts to storm patterns and even microorganisms.
In 2364, Commander Riker used a research dinghy to go after Data, who had taken a shuttlecraft in an attempt to make contact with an alien creature. (TNG novel: Ghost Ship)
- Cover artist Enric Torres-Prat illustrated the dinghy on the book's cover, apparently using as a model the titular ship from Battlestar Galactica, but oriented upside-down to disguise its origin and give it the boat shape mentioned in the text.
Appendices
Connections
| USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) auxiliary craft | ||
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Shuttlecraft 02 • Shuttlecraft 04 • Shuttlecraft 05 • Shuttlecraft 13 • Ansel Adams • Berman • Calypso • Campbell • Decartes • Christopher • Cochrane • Collins • Copernicus • Curie • El-Baz • Albert Einstein • Fermi • Feynman • Sam Freedle • Galileo • Goddard • Goodall • Gould • Hawking (I) • Hawking (II) • Hoyle • Indiana Jones • Justman • Kirk • Lewis • Ley • Magellan 15 • Magellan 5 • Nadir • Nameme • Isaac Newton • Onizuka • Pike (I) • Pike (II) • Piller • Polo • Pontiac • Rahjah • Sakharov • Voltaire | 
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