Alpha Centauri III was a Class M world in the Alpha Centauri system, the third planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri A. It was one of Earth's earliest extrasolar colonies, and a member of the Alpha Centauri Concordium. (ENT novel: A Choice of Futures)
In the late 21st century, Alpha Centauri III was one of the UESPA's favored colonization sites, though its environment made it less hospitable than other planets due to the lingering effects of an asteroid impact several centuries earlier. After the failure of the Terra Nova colony, Earth's governments were reluctant to try again, but Zefram Cochrane launched his own expedition and founded an independent colony on the planet in 2115.
Over the coming decades, the Centauri colonists tamed the harsh environment, though not without sustaining many losses. Over time, several large cities were constructed, including New Byzantium and New Samarkand, which became the capital. The colony developed an active terraforming industry, and established additional outposts on other borderline-habitable planets around all three stars in the Alpha Centauri system. An asteroid deflection system was established around the planet in order do prevent any future impacts. (ENT novel: A Choice of Futures)
Prior to the 2150s, the colony also became home to the Cochrane Institute, a sister organization to the Cochrane Foundation established much earlier on Centauri B II. The Institute worked closely with both Earth Starfleet and the United Earth Space Probe Agency in the time preceding, and during, the Earth-Romulan War. (ENT novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
Alpha Centauri helped form the Coalition of Planets in the 2155. Ambassador Jie Cong Li was the Centauri delegate to the Coalition. Later, the Centauri Concordium became a founding member of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. (ENT novel: A Choice of Futures)
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Continuity notes[]
- This version of the Alpha Centauri colony originated in the Enterprise Relaunch novels. It was said to be Earth's second extrasolar colony, after the failed Terra Nova expedition, and the first launched by Cochrane himself. It is also said to be the capital of the Alpha Centauri Concordium. However, that continuity does not acknowledge any native Centaurian species, and ignores Cochrane's colony on Centauri B II established in Federation and other novels by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, as well as other colonies orbiting Proxima. As such, for Star Trek: Pendragon some details have been altered to fit within the unified continuity for Alpha Centauri.
External links[]
- Alpha Centauri colony article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Alpha Centauri III article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.