It was supervised by 200 people, including Louis, a childhood friend of Jean-Luc Picard, but lacked a satisfactory director who would lead the project. One of the challenges was to accelerate the build-up on the underside of the mantle without increasing the stress on the tectonic plates. During his explorations on the USS Enterprise-D, Picard had kept up with the project through journals. Picard met his friend shortly after his rescue from the Borg, and suggested to Louis to use harmonic resonators to relieve the tectonic pressures, as they had done with Drema IV.