The Imperial Survey Corps (ISC), alternatively called the Survey and Exploration Corps, functioned as a branch of the Galactic Empire's military with the responsibility of exploring the galaxy. A key objective of the Survey Corps during the Age of the Empire was charting the most distant areas of Wild Space and updating data related to hyperspace travel.
The Imperial Survey Corps was established as the successor to an organization of the Galactic Republic that was created during the Clone Wars. When the Empire was formed, the Survey Corps offered military commissions to numerous members of the Civilian Astrogation Corps; however, most declined due to Imperial conditions that classified all information about the Unknown Regions as a state secret.
Kidi Aleri, a Cerean, worked as a signals analyst for the corps before defecting to the Alliance to Restore the Republic. During the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Alliance, Aleri hoped her former colleagues in the corps would receive pardons following the war's conclusion. While participating in Operation Yellow Moon with Rebel leader Princess Leia Organa, Aleri engaged in a heated argument with Lokmarcha, a Dressellian commando, who believed that all Imperials, including the Survey Corps personnel, should be either imprisoned or executed after the Empire's downfall.
Within current Star Wars canon, the Imperial Survey Corps was initially referenced in Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, a 2015 novel authored by Jason Fry and Cecil Castellucci. The Imperial Survey Corps first appeared in Star Wars Legends, introduced by Greg Gorden in the Imperial Sourcebook, a supplement published in 1989 for the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.