NASA Spacecraft Spots 'Star Trek' Logo on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a feature on Mars that looks like the famous "Star Trek" logo.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a feature on Mars that looks like the famous "Star Trek" logo. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

It looks like Starfleet is literally embedded on the planet next door: A dune in the shape of the famous logo from "Star Trek" appears prominently in a new picture from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Even Captain Kirk himself (actor William Shatner) has weighed in.

Don't expect to find Spock, Jean-Luc Picard or Michael Burnham squatting nearby, however. Just like the famous "face on Mars," this Starfleet logo was produced by random chance, as wind, lava and other forces sculpted the Martian landscape.

"Enterprising viewers will make the discovery that these features look conspicuously like a famous logo," the University of Arizona, which manages the MRO HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, said in a statement. "You'd be right, but it's only a coincidence."

Related: The Weirdest Mars Discoveries by Opportunity and Spirit Rovers

The dune feature is located in Hellas Planitia, a large plain within the Hellas impact basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars. An interaction of dunes, lava and wind formed the chevron shape visible in the picture, according to the statement. MRO has photographed many other chevrons on Mars, so we're guessing this is not the first time it spotted one shaped like a "Star Trek" logo.

Scientists working with the HiRISE instrument have spent years studying the features they see in Mars images, and they think they have a good sense of how this particular shape came to be. The story starts with crescent-shaped sand dunes where wind and surface interacted.

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Then came lava. Eruptions spilled the molten substance across the area surrounding the dunes, but it wasn't thick enough to cover them entirely. And when the lava cooled, the sand dunes remained, "stuck up like islands," according to the statement.

"However, they were still just dunes, and the wind continued to blow," the statement continued. "Eventually, the sand piles that were the dunes migrated away, leaving these 'footprints' in the lava plain. These are also called 'dune casts' and record the presence of dunes that were surrounded by lava."

While the "Star Trek" feature is a coincidence, we can truly say that MRO has "lived long and prospered" (as the Trekkie saying goes) at the Red Planet. The orbiter has been sending back high-resolution imagery for 13 years, well past its design lifetime. It serves as a vital communications relay for NASA's Curiosity rover and InSight lander and is expected to support the Mars 2020 rover mission when that craft lands on the Red Planet. 

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace