Flight recorder

A flight recorder, also known as a black box, was a piece of equipment installed aboard starships that logged the events aboard ship, providing a record of the ship's functions and recorded data. In 8 ABY, logs from the flight recorder aboard the FarStar helped to determine that Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum was the victim of an attempted assassination perpetrated by the Wraith.

Black boxes were commonly installed on starships conducted scouting missions. As scout vessels often conducted "blind jumps"—hyperspace jumps into unknown space—they commonly got lost. Black boxes logged the data from each jump, allowing the starship to retrace its path if necessary.