The Federation Alien Life Studies Institute was a Federation Space station operating in the 23rd century. It was a large, domed facility built atop a flattened asteroid, apparently in orbit of or near a moon or planet.
In 2267, Dr. Stephen Mohr headed an archeological dig on Heitius VII which uncovered a 10,000 year old mummy and preserved it within an electronic sarcophagus. Dr. Moria Starr, foremost archeologist in the Federation, worked at the institute and oversaw transfer of the mummy via the USS Enterprise. Three additional mummies were later discovered on the surface, which temporarily reactivated themselves. All were determined to be cyborgs left over from a dying civilization. They were brought in a deactivated condition to the institute for further study.
- A sun and planet were visible near the facility, so it was clearly within a system rather than in interstellar space. Since the institute itself was not considered to be a Federation port, the institute was either located in orbit of Centaurus V, elsewhere in the Centaurus system, or near the Centaurus system.
Dr. Moria Starr