Spock the difference: Nasa reveals dunes on the Martian surface that look like Star Trek logo

Unusual dune field spotted by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Contains dozens of 'wingtip dunes

It may at first seem a highly illogical picture - but fear not, you can Klingon to the knowledge it really did come from the surface of Mars.

Nasa today revealed this amazing v-shaped dune field on Mars - which looks uncannily like the Starfleet logo from the hit TV show Star Trek.

It was spotted by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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The 'wingtip' dunes were spotted in a dune field in a large crater near Mawrth Vallis on the martian surface

They bear an uncanny resemblance to the Star fleet insignia badges seen on crew members throughout the series, shown here.

This image was acquired by the HiRISE camera aboard the Orbiter on Dec. 30, 2013.

'In this image of a dune field in a large crater near Mawrth Vallis, some of the dunes appear to be in formation,' Nasa said.

It likened the formation to flying birds.



'Migratory birds and military aircraft—like during World War II—often fly in a V-shaped formation,' it said.

'The 'V' formation greatly boosts the efficiency and range of flying birds, because all except the first fly in the upward motion of air--called upwash--from the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead.'

The odd shapes were formed by a combination of whather and terrain, it said.



'For dune fields, the spacing of individual dunes is a function of sand supply, wind speed, and topography.;

The dune field has dozens of the strange shapes on it.

The find isn't Star Trek's first brush wiht the Nasa's red planet projects.

Earlier this year actor William Shatner joined growing calls for Nasa to investigate the bizarre 'jelly doughnut' shaped rock on the Martian surface.

Shatner asked Nasa about the strange Mars rock found by Opportunity via Twitter during a press conference on the Opportunity rovers latest discoveries - asking mission controllers if they had ruled out 'Martian rock throwers'.

Mission controllers responding by saying Shatner's theory was 'unlikely'.

'We've got another question from Twitter, this one from William Shatner,' NASA spokesman Guy Webster said, according to space.com.



A starfleet flag from the show recently auctioned at Christie's

Willaims Shatner recently took to Twitter to question Nasa about its finding on the red planet

'He'd like to know if you've ruled out the Martian rock throwers in the case of the jelly doughnut.'



Nasa later said it had solved the mystery of a 'jelly doughnut' rock that appeared on the Martian surface - and says it was just a rolling stone.

The white-rimmed, red-centered rock caused a stir last month when it appeared in an image the rover took on January 8th.

More recent images show the original piece of rock struck by the rover's wheel, slightly uphill from where Pinnacle Island, the name Nasa gave the rock, came to rest.

'Once we moved Opportunity a short distance, after inspecting Pinnacle Island, we could see directly uphill an overturned rock that has the same unusual appearance,' said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis.

'We drove over it.



'We can see the track.



'That's where Pinnacle Island came from.'