The credit for this picture is NASA/JPL-Caltech, but it was actually taken by the Left Navigation Camera on the Mars rover Curiosity. The date on earth was January 9, but on Mars the date was Sol 4062. What we are looking at is the route uphill to Mount Sharp, or Aeolis Mons, where Curiosity is trying to figure out how water once flowed there. However, what we are seeing is that Starfleet got there first.
I bet the Star Trek fans on the @MarsCuriosity team smiled like Cheshire Cats when they saw this new image appear on their screens... :-)
— Stuart Atkinson (@mars_stu) January 10, 2024
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech pic.twitter.com/SdWyq4Sc5P
There's no way the many Star Trek fans who work at NASA missed the unique and ubiquitous shape of a Starfleet insignia, worn as a badge by all service members, and used as a communicator in Star Trek: The Next Generation and other series. I have one in my jewelry box. You could say it's pareidolia, but considering it's a new planet we're exploring, the first one we've been able to, it might be a sign of something. -via Boing Boing