Star Trek's David Bischoff has died aged 66.

Confirming the sad news, a statement on the show's official Twitter page read, "We are saddened to report the passing of StarTrek writer, David Bischoff. Please join us in offering our condolences."

The US science fiction and TV writer passed away on March 19.

StarTrek.com paid tribute to the 'respected and prolific' author, who was born in Washington and studied at the University of Maryland before turning his hand to writing novels and short stories.

David coauthored numerous episodes for Star Trek: The Next Generation, including Tin Man and First Contact.

He also worked on Aliens, Gremlins 2: The New Batch and WarGames, and wrote some 75 original novels.

Tributes poured in for the talented writer online, with one fan tweeting, "Rest in Peace David Bischoff. Thank you for your amazing writing over the years for Star Trek."

"I'm very sorry to hear of the death of the writer David Bischoff," added another, while one fan wrote, "I loved Dave, he was such a great guy. Loved doing business with him."

And publisher David Wilson revealed they'd been about to release his new book.

"Sort of stunned... just learned that one of our authors, David Bischoff , just passed away," he wrote.

"We were on the verge of releasing a print edition of his new book 'The Noose Club...' .. very, very sad."