Ares IV

Ares IV was a Terran spacecraft which, in 2032, was part of one of Humanity's early manned missions to Mars. The mission was under the direction of the International Space Agency, in conjunction with NASA. It was commanded by Lieutenant John Kelly, with mission specialists Rose Kumagawa and Andrei Novakovich.

On October 19, 2032, while Kelly was alone in Martian orbit and Kumagawa and Novakovich were on the surface, Ares IV encountered turbulence in orbit, and Kelly reported an unidentified object approaching. Contact was lost with Ares IV at 0922 hours. Several weeks later, when a rescue ship reached Mars to retrieve Kumagawa and Novakovich, there was no trace of Ares IV and assumed lost. (VOY episode: "One Small Step")

Daniel Okagawa, as a young boy, read about the loss of the Ares IV and other famed lost ships, creating a lifelong fascination with the subject. (SCE eBook: Where Time Stands Still)

In 2376, the USS Voyager encountered a graviton ellipse in the Delta Quadrant, in which they discovered the remains of the Ares IV command module and of John Kelly, solving the centuries-old mystery of its disappearance. (VOY episode: "One Small Step")