In the ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' universe, a Class M planet is one habitable by humans and similar life forms.
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
,
Vulcan,
Romulus
Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...
, and
Qo'noS are examples of Class M planets.
The planet needs an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen, should be close to a stable star, have fertile soil, a tolerable gravity, and a climate that is generally pleasant for humans.
Most planets shown in the franchise are Class M planets; occasionally another alphabetically named class of planet is shown, each hostile to humanoid life in one or more ways. As a story device, this allowed for easy filming without restriction by environmental suits,
but ''
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' correspondent Gretchen Vogel called it a "failure of imagination" when thinking about the limits of the
zone capable of supporting life.
The origin of the term within the fictional universe is implied to be the Vulcan word ''Minshara''.
See also
*
Earth in science fiction
References
External links
Star Trek locations
{{StarTrek-stub