Star Trek Day Mission Log: Read the starship mission log and system readings, then answer questions about evidence, systems failures, and technical writing. Use the data table to support your thinking, and write clearly and professionally.
Starship USS Meridian — Mission Log 1 (Star Trek Day Activity)
You are part of the bridge and engineering crew aboard the USS Meridian, a science ship on a routine survey of the Helios Drift (a region filled with dust, ice, and tiny fast-moving rocks).
During a micrometeoroid shower, the ship’s outer hull takes several small impacts. The damage is not catastrophic, but soon after the impacts, multiple systems start acting strangely.
Your job: read the mission log and system readings, then help the crew diagnose what’s failing and write an updated mission log entry that is clear, credible, and supported by evidence.
The ship runs on a main reactor plus backup power.
Critical systems (like life support) are designed with redundancy.
Some sensors can give false readings when power is unstable.
Stardate 7713.4 — We cleared the Helios Drift’s densest band at low speed. The micrometeoroid alert lasted only eight minutes, but the impacts sounded like a handful of pebbles thrown against metal.
At first, everything looked normal. Then the environmental control panel began flashing brief warnings: CO₂ scrubber cycle delayed. A minute later, the warning cleared on its own.
Three minutes after that, the internal temperature display jumped upward, then dropped back into the normal range. The oxygen percentage never fell into an emergency range, but it drifted slightly and then stabilized.
At the same time, the long-range comms array struggled to lock onto our relay buoy. The connection comes and goes—clear for a few seconds, then static.
Engineering reports that a power distribution junction in Deck 6 shows “unexpected load” events. They can reroute power, but doing so will reduce power available to nonessential systems.
The captain wants answers before the next course correction.
Time (min ago) | Internal Temp (°C) | O₂ (%) | CO₂ (ppm) | Comms Signal Strength | Power Junction Load |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | 22.0 | 20.9 | 700 | Stable | Normal |
10 | 22.1 | 20.8 | 760 | Stable | Normal |
8 | 22.0 | 20.8 | 820 | Flicker | Spike |
6 | 24.6 | 20.7 | 840 | Flicker | Spike |
4 | 22.2 | 20.8 | 790 | Stable | Normal |
2 | 23.8 | 20.7 | 860 | Flicker | Spike |
0 | 22.1 | 20.8 | 780 | Stable | Normal |
Reminder: A single sensor can be wrong; patterns across systems matter.
Put these troubleshooting steps in the most logical order for the crew.
Form a working hypothesis about the likely cause
Choose one low-risk test or adjustment
Confirm the pattern across multiple readings
Monitor readings to see if the change helps
Document the result in a mission log entry
Based on the mission log and readings, what is the crew’s most immediate concern?
Categorize each observation into the subsystem it most directly points to.
Unexpected load spikes
Multiple systems flicker together
CO₂ scrubber cycle delayed
CO₂ rises above 800 ppm briefly
Relay buoy link drops to static
Signal locks briefly then fails
Power distribution
Environmental control
Communications
What single word best describes the pattern of the problems in the readings table?
Write a mission log entry (5–8 sentences) that:
states a claim about what system is likely failing,
cites at least two specific data points from the table as evidence,
explains why those data points support your claim,
keeps a calm, professional tone.
A calm, precise tone can make a technical report seem more credible to the reader.
Which pieces of evidence best support the idea that the issue is intermittent rather than constant? Select two.
Match each term to the best definition (based on how it’s used in the passage).
| Draggable item | arrow_right_alt | Corresponding Item |
|---|---|---|
Anomaly | arrow_right_alt | Backup parts that keep a system working |
Redundancy | arrow_right_alt | A limit where action becomes necessary |
Trade-off | arrow_right_alt | A result that differs from the expected pattern |
Threshold | arrow_right_alt | A gain that requires giving something up |
Which action is most likely to affect each system? (Select all that apply in the grid.)
Power stability | Air quality control | Comms connection | |
|---|---|---|---|
Reroute power around Deck 6 junction | |||
Isolate damaged air duct section | |||
Reboot comms targeting software |
Choose the best revision for clarity and concision.
Sentence: “Engineering reports that the junction is showing spikes that are unexpected, and this makes several systems do weird things sometimes.”