Star Trek and Science Links
- 55 Years of NASA and Star Trek Connections – For the almost 60 years now, the science fiction franchise Star Trek has influenced scientists, engineers, astronomers, and astronauts as a very real inspiration for their desire to be involved in astronomy and space exploration.
- From the Moon to the Delta Quadrant: NASA’s Indelible Imprint on Star Trek: Voyager, by R.A. Duchak – Exploring the mutuality between real-world space exploration and the TV series Star Trek: Voyage.
- NASA on the Edge of Forever: Science in Space,” (YouTube) – in this 5-minute documentary, host NASA astronaut Victor Glover stated, “Science and Star Trek go hand-in-hand.” While the International Space Station doesn’t speed through the galaxy like the Starship Enterprise, much of the research conducted aboard the orbiting facility is making the fiction of Star Trek come a little closer to reality.
- Tech leaders share how Star Trek inspired them to pursue a career in technology, by Teena Maddox (Tech Republic, January 23, 2020). In this engaging essay, the author quotes many tech leaders who she interviewed to find out how they were inspired by Star Trek. On the same page of the article is a 24-minute video on the topic of “The Influence of Star Trek on Tech.”
- NASA’s Planetary Defenders is a gripping 2025 documentary that delves into the high-stakes world of asteroid detection and planetary defense. Watch this video and more on NASA+ or YouTube. This shows once again the interconnection between real-world space exploration and Star trek, as several Star Trek episodes feature a planet being threatened by an asteroid. Here’s a few notable examples:
An asteroid bombardment is occurring on a colony planet, and the Voyager crew is called in to assist in vaporizing the asteroids.
The episode deals with the aftermath of a planet-destroying asteroid, with the Enterprise crew arriving to assist the survivors.
A planet is threatened by an asteroid, and the Enterprise crew must figure out a way to save the planet from destruction.
- A comet threatens a planet, and the Enterprise crew must try to reroute the comet.
- NASA and Star Trek: A Shared Journey of Inspiration – (link to 13 min. Google Notebook LM audio) – The relationship between NASA and Star Trek has evolved significantly over the past fifty years, growing from a cultural phenomenon that paralleled NASA’s early space exploration efforts to a deeply intertwined partnership characterized by mutual inspiration, direct collaboration, and the incorporation of “Star Trek” themes into NASA culture.
- Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot – A special reading of an excerpt from Star Trek star Robert Picardo (Voyager, Starfleet Academy) shows how a perspective of Earth from a viewpoint outside our solar system reveals our true circumstances.
- TrekCore – A huge website featuring the latest Star Trek News Headlines, Image Galleries, Audio, Video, Movie and TV Episode Guides, Merchandise Reviews, and an excellent Blog. Great for past and upcoming shows. Searchable News archives is a helpful feature.
- Star Trek Memory Alpha – A Wiki providing source information focused exclusively on official Star Trek Canon, exploring the in-universe stories of Star Trek, from the perspective of the fictional people and events themselves. Since its beginning, the science fiction franchise Star Trek has been an inspiration for peaceful space exploration, with the United Federation of Planet’s “Starfleet” having its main goal to explore the universe for scientific reasons. Thus, Star Trek provides an inspirational, positive look at the future, in contrast to the dystopian future contemplated by much other contemporary science fiction. This Memory Alpha website is a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to Star Trek.
- Star Trek Memory Beta – A non-Canon Wiki, covering not only the canonic TV episodes and movies, but also additional licensed Star Trek works, including novels, comic books, RPG sourcebooks, video games and any other licensed works. In contrast to Memory Alpha, Memory Beta presents coverage of the franchise from a real-world reporting perspective.
- The Trek BBS – Perhaps the major forum to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans, including some of the franchise authors and other experts.
Star Trek Day – A Planet Patriot Holiday: the release date of the original Star Trek series on September 8, 1966, is celebrated annually as Star Trek Day. Also, many celebrate “Live Long and Prosper Day,” on the date of actor Leonard Nimoy’s birthday (March 26.) Similarly, see below for First Contact Day (April 5), based on Star Trek canon.
DART impact day – September 26, 2022 – is an example of a solar system holiday, when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft tested the the feasibility of using kinetic impact to deflect an asteroid, a technique that could be used to protect Earth from a potential asteroid impact. This mission successfully smashed into a 560-foot-wide (170-meter-wide) asteroid named Dimorphos. The test proved that a kinetic impactor could deflect a hazardous asteroid should one ever be on a collision course with Earth.
- Star Trek on sciencefictionclassics.com – This website appears to be generated by AI, with the listed author identified as “Adam I. Trekwell,” supposedly a journalist from Boise, Idaho. Nevertheless, the site provides s a treasure trove of engaging content, offering insightful articles, reviews, and in-depth discussions that delve into the vast world of science fiction, with an entire section devoted to Star Trek.