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"Welcome to Velara III. Remember it as it is now, because in a couple of decades you won't recognize the place."

Velara III was the inhabited third planet of its star system. The planet was located in the Pleiades Cluster.

In 2360, after a Federation reconnaissance expedition certified the planet was lifeless, Terraform Command established the Velara Base on Velara III. This base was responsible for a multi-decade terraforming project with the aim of establishing an M class environment on this planet.

The terraforming was, however, canceled in 2364, when it was discovered that the process was killing silicon-based lifeforms living in a thin layer of water between a sandy surface layer, or topsoil, and a layer of rock. These "microbrains" called their planet Sand of Home.

Following the discovery of the microbrains and the retaliatory death of hydraulics specialist Arthur Malencon by these lifeforms, an agreement between the little crystals and Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise-D placed Velara III under an indefinite quarantine with the hope of restoring communications with the microbrains in three hundred years. (TNG: "Home Soil")

The script described Velara III as a "yellow-ochre, featureless planet." [1]
According to the script, Velara III was located in the Velara system.
Andrew Probert produced a matte painting of Velara III, but this was eventually unused and replaced by a matte painting illustrated by Syd Dutton. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12, p. 46)

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