Mercury Sensor Systems
| USS Mercury | ||
|---|---|---|
 INACTIVE STATUS | ||
| ||
Long range and navigation sensors are located behind the main deflector dish, to avoid sensor ghosts and other detrimental effects consistent with main deflector dish’s millicochrane static field output. Additional sensors are placed behind the auxiliary deflector, allowing refined forward scanning capabilities. Lateral sensor pallets are located around the rim of the entire Starship, providing full coverage in all standard scientific fields.
Each sensor pallet can be interchanged and re-calibrated with any other pallet on the ship.
Sensor Module
The Oracle class features a sensor module that is attached to the ventral section of the ship, which contains a sensor hub powered by a separate computer core. This system, was designed to represent the best sensor array possible on Starfleet science vessels at the current level of technology. Due to the level of processor power required to operate the array, it is not possible to install it on every ship in the fleet, and as such, the Oracle class vessel has effectively been built around that system. The module contains a plethora of different sensor palettes that are designed for a range of scanning tasks, including (but not limited to) long-range observation, life-form recognition, particle analysis, stellar cartography and enhanced short range scans. While the system cannot perform the impossible (such as seeing through cloaking devices, penetrating dimensional barriers, or performing detailed scans of a government official’s office from a sector away), the accuracy of its sensors are greatly enhanced in comparison to the older science vessels such as the Miranda and Oberth classes, and a step forward along the evolutionary chain from the sensor modules that can be attached to the Nebula class of starship. The module operates through a network of palettes placed along the lateral sections of the ship, in a channel along Decks 27 through 29. Networks of similar palettes are located in various locations along the module in order to provide comparative readings. This process increases the accuracy of scans by a considerable margin. The sensor module’s dedicated computer core filters and analyses data according to current scan parameters, which can be set from the Main Bridge, the Observatory, Main Engineering or any of the ship’s laboratories as necessary. The processor is also programmed with algorithms specifically designed to filter out noise from the warp nacelles and deflector dishes, which further increases the reliability of sensor readings. Despite rumours to the contrary, the sensor module does not provide the ship with any advantage in close-range vessel to vessel combat. The ship’s standard tactical sensors are better equipped to function in these situations, as they have been specifically designed for that task. However, the enhanced range on the sensor module’s long-range scans allows for early detection of incoming threats, a necessity for a ship that is not designed for prolonged combat.
Tactical Sensors
There are 10 independent tactical sensors on the Oracle. Each sensor automatically tracks and locks onto incoming hostile vessels and reports bearing, aspect, distance, and vulnerability percentage to the tactical station on the main bridge. Each tactical sensor is approximately 90% efficient against ECM, and can operate fairly well in particle flux nebulae.