What is Memory Alpha? Ric here looking into that question in this short lore-byte.
So… the go to resource for much Trek lore is the website, Memory Alpha. However, why
did this indispensable archive of poured over and meticulous curated continuity choose this
as its name? Well, because Memory Alpha exists in the Star Trek universe too.
In short, it is a library of collected knowledge and an institute dedicated to learning in
all its forms. Located deep in United Federation territory within the Alpha Quadrant sits a
completely unremarkable planetoid. Star Trek Online’s cohesive map illustrates it as
being in the Tellar Sector of the Alpha Quadrant making Tellar Prime one of the closest Federation
worlds and a short journey from Sol, but this location has jumped around a little over the
years so it doesn’t have a confirmed location. Being as it’s so small, maybe it’s even
mobile, although an object of that size travelling at interstellar speeds is uncommon in Trek.
Its collection of databases contains a majority of the academic knowledge from all members
of the United Federation of Planets and is an open facility for any of its citizens to
access and even non-Federation species. This makes it a nearly unmatched resource for information
for independent researchers, Starfleet scientists, Agricultural Botanists, Scholars and bored
captains. So as we can see, it’s not just scientific knowledge that get added to its
archives, but all sorts including entire culture’s artistic history, examples of alien culture
and deep reservoirs of knowledge on almost every subject under the stars. By the end
of the 23rd century, it had catalogued information from 2493 differing interstellar societies
and was still growing. This pool of data is all from contributed
sources including Starfleet branches such as the Daystrom Institute and individuals
from all over as well as its own research. It included several categories such as; the
Astro Cultural databases, Historical Archives, Stellar and Planetary Cartography, Antiques,
Starfleet History, External Gifts, Fine Arts the list goes on.
Access to the archive can be established by subspace communications, so long as you are
within range of a network, you can access the system from any personal device. Of course,
some files are restricted and require authorisation to access although these are few and far between
as the institution was founded on the idea of shared learning, one of the key benefits
of joining the United Federation of Planets to begin with.
The installation itself is a series of habitat domes on a barren rock. These domes, based
on the initial design impressions are around 210 metres in diameter. This makes the complex
of domes look to be just over a kilometre in size, maybe two kilometres across. So I
guess this little rock its sits on is remarkable in that it manages to maintain a spherical
shape at such a small scale. Plus it’s possible that the structures extend within the planetoid
itself. Although much of its stored knowledge is digital, it does contain research laboratories,
holodecks and physical libraries and specimens all donated for museum related studies. Visitors
to the planet are welcomed and curated by the staff archivists and clerks that work
there. Visitors from Federation worlds can avail themselves of the myriad of computers
and equipment the facility has to offer so there’s usually always an influx and outgoing
of people. Alongside Memory Alpha, there are several
other installations around Federation territory such as Memory Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on
initially conceived as 7 in total. Although these facilities each share archived information,
each one was created with a specialty in mind to accumulate. Beta for example had greater
facilities for studying exobiology while Gamma studied economics and agriculture. Epsilon
catalogued Multiphysics topics, all those subspace models and universal law thingies
I guess while Memory Delta studied astronomical objects such as Stars and Planets. There are
other locations too such as the Symphony Alpha which contains museums dedicated towards many
species’ arts and music. The Memory outposts themselves are very lightly
defended with no shielding or weapons emplacements. The latter I can understand, but no shielding
seems rather dangerous as was observed by the Enterprise in 2269. The lack of these
systems was a symbolic gesture to the entire galaxy; that ideas and information should
be shared by all and there should be no barrier to learning. Still, as one of the Federation’s
greatest resources, I can imagine that what the facilities lack in defence, Starfleet
makes up for. Though it appears that the archives have never been a priority target throughout
the Federation’s many skirmishes and wars. The Memory Alpha archive was severely damaged
in 2269, and possibly irretrievable but was, however restored by the end of the century.
This led to the creation of a “Memory Prime” which sits buried within an asteroid belt
and acts as the nexus for the archives and effectively a defendable back-up should anything
befall its sister outposts. This is just one of only a myriad of private
and public archives that the Federation has access to, but is often the first port of
call if your local database, such as a starship’s computer, has no relevant data on a topic.
The foundations on which the Memory complexes are built are idealistic and benevolent, that
knowledge should be shared and made available to all and honestly, that’s a way of thinking
I can get behind. I’ll probably look into other foundations
and resources that the Federation has to call on but I figured I’d start with the most
well know, so thanks for watching and until the next video, goodbye!