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This article is about the device. You may be looking for the novel, Probe.
Diagram of the  probe.

Diagram of the Mariner 2 probe.

A probe was an automated spacecraft which were used to gather information. Starships were often equipped with probes, as they could perform tasks a starship couldn't, or go into areas that no manned vessel could. (TNG reference: Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual)

Starfleet probe types

Other Federation probes

Ancient Earth probes

Alien probes

Appendices

External links