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Looks like Starfleet is literally encrusted on the neighboring planet: a dune shaped like the famous logo of "Star Trek"appears prominently in a new image of Marking Orbiter March (MRO). Even Captain Kirk himself (the actor William Shatner) played.
Do not expect to find Spock, Jean-Luc Picard or Michael Burnham squatting nearby, though. Just like the famous "face on Mars, "This Starfleet logo was created by chance, wind, lava and other forces that shaped the Martian landscape.
"Enterprising viewers will discover that these features look a lot like a famous logo", from the University of Arizona, which manages the HiRISE MRO camera (Scientific Experiment in High Resolution Imaging), said in a statement. "You'd be right, but it's only a coincidence."
Related: The Strangest Discoveries on Mars by Opportunity and Traveling Spirit
The dune is located in Hellas Planitia, a large plain located in the Hellas impact basin, in the southern hemisphere of Mars. According to the release, an interaction of dunes, lava and wind formed the chevron shape visible in the photo. MRO photographed many more rafters on Mars so we guess it's not the first time that he sees one that has the shape of a "Star Trek" logo.
Scientists working with the HiRISE instrument have spent years studying the features they see in the Mars images, and they think they have a good idea of how it works. form has come to. The story begins with crescent-shaped sand dunes where the wind and the surface interacted.
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Then came the lava. The eruptions knocked over the molten substance around the dunes, but it was not thick enough to cover them entirely. And when the lava cooled, the sand dunes remained "stuck like islands," the statement said.
"However, they were still just dunes and the wind was still blowing," the statement said. "Finally, the sand piles that were the dunes migrated, leaving these" footprints "in the plain of lava. These are also called "dunes" and record the presence of dunes surrounded by lava. "
Although the "Star Trek" feature is a coincidence, we can truly say that MRO has "lived long and prospered" (as the Trekkie says) on the red planet. The orbiter has returned high-resolution images for 13 years, well beyond their theoretical life. It serves as an essential communication relay for NASA Curiosity Rover and InSight lander and should support the March 2020 rover mission when this craft lands on the red planet.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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