---
title: "NASA Orbiter Spots “Star Trek” Starfleet Insignia on Mars"
description: "NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's on board HiRise high-resolution camera just spotted a dune in the shape of the \"Star Trek\" logo on Mars."
date: "2019-06-14"
modified: "2019-06-14"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-orbiter-star-trek-logo"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "mars"
  - "mars reconnaissance orbiter"
  - "NASA"
  - "star trek"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Orbiter Spots “Star Trek” Starfleet Insignia on Mars

![NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's on board HiRise high-resolution camera just spotted a dune in the shape of the "Star Trek" logo on Mars.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/nasa-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter-star-trek-logo.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/JPL/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Beam Me Up

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been boldly going where no one has gone before — completing its [60,000th trip](<https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8438/nasas-mro-completes-60000-trips-around-mars/>) around the [Red Planet](<https://futurism.com/category/mars>) last month.

But its on board HiRise high-resolution camera has never seen anything like this before: now it's spotted a dune in the shape of the Starfleet insignia, from the fictional television show "Star Trek." Perhaps Captain Kirk got there before Elon Musk did after all.

Hopefully we don't have to tell you that this probably a coincidence caused by massive windstorms, lava, and other natural forces forming the Martian landscape — because the alternative is that one of those wacky "Star Trek" time travel plots actually happened, which would be awful.

## Highly Illogical

Here's the actual explanation from the University of Arizona's HiRise team:

"Long ago, there were large crescent-shaped (barchan) dunes that moved across this area, and at some point, there was an eruption," Ross Beyer, Principal Investigator with the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, writes in a [blog post](<https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_059708_1305>). "The lava flowed out over the plain and around the dunes, but not over them. The lava solidified, but these dunes still stuck up like islands."

But looks can be deceiving.

"Enterprising viewers will make the discovery that these features look conspicuously like a famous logo: and you’d be right, but it’s only a coincidence," he said.

**READ MORE:** ['Star Trek' Logo Spotted on Mars](<https://www.livescience.com/65714-star-trek-logo-on-mars.html>) \[*Live Science*\]

**More on Mars: Trump:** *[“NASA Should NOT be Talking About Going to the Moon”](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-moon-tweet-nasa>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)