--- title: "NASA Rover Spots “Star Trek” Symbol on Mars" description: "NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has spotted something fascinating — a rock that seems to form the delta-shaped Starfleet logo from \"Star Trek.\"" date: "2024-01-19" modified: "2024-01-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-rover-star-trek" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "mars rover" - "star trek" - "the digest" --- # NASA Rover Spots “Star Trek” Symbol on Mars ![NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has spotted something fascinating — a rock that seems to form the delta-shaped Starfleet logo from "Star Trek."]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Rove Your Boat While going about its usual planet-roaming-and-photographing duties, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover spotted something delightful — a rock that seems to form the delta-shaped Starfleet logo from "Star Trek." As [*Space.com* reports](), the familiar symbol was posted as part of a cache of raw Curiosity images taken on January 9, and as CalTech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory [noted in the image's data description](), it was taken with the rover's left navigation camera. The next day, amateur Mars-watcher and self-described "astropoet" Stuart Atkinson pointed out the blink-and-you'll-miss-it happenstance in a tweet, joking that the Curiosity team may well have "[smiled like Cheshire Cats]()" when noticing the curiously-shaped rock photographed on the Red Planet's surface. https://twitter.com/mars_stu/status/1745058534411190363 As NASA [explained on Curiosity's blog](), the images were taken while the rover was executing "contact science on a flat block of dark-toned bedrock in its workspace," which is clearly visible even in the black-and-white images as the lighter rock formations stick up from the Martian sand. ## Red Shirts This isn't, to be sure, the first time [weird Mars rocks]() have [made headlines](). Last summer, NASA's Perseverance Rover, which was sent out in 2020 as a sort of follow-up companion to Curiosity with a more explicit mission of looking for signs of life, spotted a bizarre [donut-shaped rock]() whose hole-y appearance scientists struggled to explain. So divided were experts on the rock that nobody could even agree if it came from the planet itself or had fallen from space. "I can’t say with absolute, 100 percent certainty it’s not a meteorite, but I think it’s highly unlikely," Arizona State University space researcher Jim Rice [told *CNN* last July](). "The reason I say that is because, this region we’re in, we see a lot of rocks that have these kind of hollowed-out interiors." By comparison, the "Starfleet"-esque rock spotted more recently by Curiosity is downright normal — though that doesn't make it any less lovely. **More on Mars:** [*NASA Releases Image of Epic Lines Carved Into Mars' Surface*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()