Military Survey of Uninhabited Planets

The Military Survey of Uninhabited Planets was a study conducted by the United Nations Space Command or Colonial Military Authority some time prior to the onset of the Human-Covenant War. The survey covered a number of uncharted worlds with manned surface expeditions, used to study the planets and determine whether they had any value for human colonisation or industrialisation.

By 2526, the survey had indexed the planet of Netherop, with the assesor's notes listing the planet as having minimal strategic value and no exploitable resources, alongside a hostile environment that forced the survey mission to end prematurely. In reality, an Office of Naval Intelligence classified addendum to the Netherop report listed the planet as possibly abandoned, with no further context for the comment. As such, the comment could be interpreted as recovered signs of a survey probe or evidence of an artificially-constructed structure - the latter of which would be later proven true with the discovery of the extinct Netherop civilisation and the Precursor Divine Hand. The Netherop entry was ultimately processed apparently without any further reading than the note of the planet's lack of strategic value, and as such the ruins on the planet remained undiscovered until the Battle of Netherop in summer of 2526.

The survey continued to be used following the war's end, with xenoarchaeologist Keely Iyuska cross-referencing it with the Covenant's own World Registry to uncover the location of the Divine Hand in 2559.

List of appearances

• Halo: Oblivion (First mentioned)
• Halo: Outcasts (Mentioned only)

See also

• Earth Survey Catalog
• UEG Cartographic Corps