Orange Media - How Many Alien Races Are in Star Trek?

Orange Media Media – How Many Alien Races Are in Star Trek?

Hey guys, Tyler here. Star Trek presents a version of the Milky Way Galaxy that is inhabited by countless thousands of intelligent civilizations. There seem to be multiple M-class planets, or planets with Earthlike climatic conditions, per every cubic parsec of space.

Furthermore, The Original Series estimates that there could be as many as three million Earth-like worlds in our galaxy alone. The point is, Star Trek shows us that the galaxy is CROWDED, and trillions of lives are being lived every day. But just how many intelligent species are there in Trek’s Milky Way, exactly? And how does such an estimate compare to what we know and what we expect to be true about aliens in real life? Let’s find out.

(CBS) The Tamarians
(CBS) The Tamarians -Sigma Tama IV

In The Original Series episode “Balance of Terror,” Doctor McCoy tells Kirk in a conversation about life and death that there are, again, three million estimated Earth-like planets in the galaxy. Real-world 21st-century science, particularly data from the Kepler missions, has given us reason to believe that between one-fifth and a quarter of all stars in our galaxy are orbited by Earth-like planets.

That’s at least 20 BILLION worlds. Aside from the fact that “Balance of Terror” was written fifty years ago, how do we reconcile these? Well, let’s take a closer look at the actual line of dialogue. “In this galaxy, there’s a mathematical probability of three million Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, three million million galaxies like this. And in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us. Don’t destroy the one named Kirk.”

The use of the phrase “Earth-type” presents some interesting implications. While this at first sounds like it could be a synonym for M-class—that is, having Earthlike conditions conducive to humanoid life—that may not be what Bones meant. Indeed, the Enterprise episode “Fight or Flight” gives more context to this figure—in the mid-22nd century, the episode reckons, scientists estimate one out of every 43,000 planets in the galaxy supports intelligent life forms. It’s not explicitly clear if this means one in 43,000 planets hosts an intelligent civilization or can host an intelligent civilization, but if we divide roughly 130 billion stars in the Milky Way by this number, then we arrive at…three million Earthlike planets that could support intelligent life forms.

(Paramount) The Deltans – Delta IV

Alright, I just threw a bunch of numbers out there that we need to digest. Let’s take a step back. One thing to consider in all of this is the element of time. We hear about ancient civilizations in Star Trek that roamed the stars millennia ago, many of whom have left traces of their existence for future archaeologists to uncover.

Mind you, the amount of information that survives for thousands let alone millions or billions of years represents a mere fraction of what civilizations produced in the ancient past, but it can tell us a few things about the history of life in the galaxy. Years ago, I made a video about Star Trek’s ancient civilizations—suffice it to say, the galaxy has cycled many times between periods of dense activity and relative quiet.

In canon, over a dozen distinct civilizations have been mentioned that reached their peak long ago and are now extinct or near-extinct. Some of these civilizations include the ancient humanoids seen in “The Chase,” the first civilization on Tagus III, the Slaver Empire, the D’Arsay, the Tkon, Sargon’s species, the Iconians, the Verathans, and more.

Naturally, even in their heyday, these civilizations were not alone in the galaxy—indeed, many of them possessed vast interstellar empires that incorporated hundreds, if not thousands of races—just like the Federation, the Dominion, the Borg, and other powers do in the present timeframe. Even though many of the aforementioned ancient civilizations existed millions of years apart, an abundance of intelligent life forms throughout the galaxy has almost always been the norm.

(Paramount) The Nibirans
(Paramount) The Nibirans – Nibiru

That said, mentions of these ancient civilizations are rare compared to the number of extant spacefaring species we see on screen. It’s quite curious indeed that so many Trek aliens have developed a similar enough level of technology at the same time in order to communicate with each other and conduct trade and diplomacy. This is, in fact, one of Star Trek’s biggest contrivances. Or is it?

Space is big. Like, really big. In Star Trek: Picard, it’s said that in addition to the Federation’s 150+ member worlds, thousands of civilizations depend on the Federation for unity and cohesion. And that’s just in our little corner of the Orion Arm of the galaxy. If there are 3 million Earthlike planets in Star Trek’s Milky Way that have multicellular life, even if 1% of those planets host spacefaring civilizations, that’s still tens of thousands of civilizations.

That’s probably higher than the number of extant civilizations that actually exist in the galaxy—assuming we’re not the only one. But it’s still an infinitesimal fraction of the number of potentially habitable worlds surveyed by Kepler. And yet, aliens are everywhere.

We don’t exactly know how dense each region of the galaxy is in comparison to its neighbours, population-wise, but we can speculate. In The Next Generation, it’s stated that in 2364, Starfleet has explored 11% of the total volume of the galaxy. Of course, this has greatly expanded in the following decades, particularly after the discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole that connects the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants as well as Voyager’s seven-year trip through the Delta Quadrant.

(CBS) The Kobali
(CBS) The Kobali – Kobali Prime

However, I’d be surprised if even after all that, that 11% figure even doubled. Regardless, the dozens of first contacts made by Starfleet vessels throughout the organization’s history as well as our knowledge about the size of other regional powers can help us arrive at a rough answer to our big question.

If thousands of species rely on the Federation for unity and cohesion, then the minimum number that figure encompasses is at least 2,000 distinct civilizations. An upper-end estimate is perhaps around 19,000. Just ballparking here, stay with me.

The Borg Collective has assimilated thousands of worlds. The Dominion likely controls a similar number. And medium-sized powers like the Klingons, the Romulans, the Tholians, the Breen, and more likely have dozens or even hundreds of subjects. If by the early 25th century the Federation has maybe explored nearly one-quarter of the galaxy, then that means there could be forty or fifty thousand spacefaring species in Star Trek’s Milky Way—and hundreds of thousands more that aren’t spacefaring.

Okay, so we’ve established how prevalent intelligence is in Star Trek’s Milky Way—one out of every 43,000 planets supports intelligent life forms, and a fraction of those planets are home to spacefaring species. But how does this stack up against real-world estimates for extraterrestrial intelligence? We discussed how the prevalence of M-class worlds compares to data from the Kepler missions, but when it comes to estimating how many alien civilizations are out there, that’s more in the realm of theoretical science.

We often hear phrases thrown around like the “Drake equation” and the “Fermi paradox,” but that’s perhaps a story for another time.

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