Though space is the final frontier, the newly-unveiled U.S. Space Force logo treads on decidedly familiar territory.
The design quickly drew comparisons to insignia from Star Trek after it was revealed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon.
“After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!” Trump said in a tweet.
The logo prompted mockery on Twitter — including a few digs from a famous Star Trek actor.
“Ahem. We are expecting royalties from this,” tweeted George Takei, who played Sulu in the original series.
“There is nothing sacred anymore,” he added in another tweet.
But others pointed out that there’s a bit more to the story.
The Air Force Space Command logo already featured a triangle that looks like the Star Trek communicator badge.
That U.S. Air Force division was established in 1982, however, decades after the debut of Gene Roddenberry’s original series.
But, as noted on Startrek.com, the communicator’s famous shape was a riff on NASA’s work to begin with.
“In the Star Trek universe, the delta emblem is a direct descendant of the vector component of the old NASA … logos in use during Earth’s space programs of the 20th and 21st Centuries,” an article states.
“Those symbols were worn by some of the first space explorers and adorned uniforms and ships during humanity’s first steps into the final frontier.”
Trump unveiled the logo one day after the premiere of Star Trek: Picard, the new series starring Patrick Stewart’s character from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Space Force was founded by the Trump administration with the goal of protecting U.S. interests such as satellites.
Earlier this month, the force’s newly-unveiled green camouflage raised some eyebrows online.
“How many trees are you expecting to find in space?” one social media user quipped in response.
–With files from Josh Elliott
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