Chinese Starfleet

[Smellincoffee]

Last nght while watching The Martian I was distracted by the fact that I kept seeing Starfleet deltas -- in the Chinese space program's headquarters. I look it up online to see if it wasn't just a movie joke, and sure enough their official logo looks like a Delta. Is it an accident? Were the Chinese inspired by a post-money ideal for humankind?

Does this mean that the Enterprise delta -- Kirk's -- was taken from the Chinese space programs, as a memorial for their future/past accomplishments? Is there a massive Chinese contigent in the Federation we've somehow not glimpsed?

 

[The Wormhole]

US Air Force Space Command also uses a delta for its logo. Though I suppose China's space program is a lot closer. Given both agencies were formed after Trek became popular (1982 for AFSPC, 1993 for CNSA) maybe this really is Trek-inspired?

 

[Maurice]

Deltas were/are very common aerospace logos. I mean, the Army Astronaut device features a delta, a star and an ellipse.

 

[Christopher]

And here I thought this was a reference to Zheng He's 15th-century treasure fleet, which represented Ming-Dynasty China and was also called the Star Fleet.

 

[TheSubCommander]

yeah a lot of space agencies have a delta in their logo, with varying degrees of resemblance to Starfleet's.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Any idea why that symbol is so predominant?

 

[Captain Rob]

Paramount should sue them all.
And then charge a licensing fee.
One dollar per patch. Ten dollars per square foot of decal.

 

[Timo]

And here I thought this was a reference to Zheng He's 15th-century treasure fleet, which represented Ming-Dynasty China and was also called the Star Fleet.

There's also Vernor Vinge's take on that..

Any idea why that symbol is so predominant?

Sounds obvious enough: an arrow pointing in a direction denotes movement and aim, so everybody wants one, and those aiming high choose a vertical one.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Maurice]

A delta is a common symbol to represent a vector, and, like an arrow, indicates movement, especially "up". The one on the NASA logo comes from 1959; so much for lawsuits.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Any idea why that symbol is so predominant?

Because arrows (and the bows to fire them) were mankind's very first effort at a form of mechanized flight?

Just a guess, mind you. It probably actually IS Trek. Star Trek has inspired many of the men and women who run those agencies.

 

[Christopher]

The red chevron shape on the NASA "meatball" logo represented a specific experimental lifting-body design that existed at the time.

More generally, the arrowhead shape suggests flight, projectiles, rocketry, and forward motion. It's also evocative of the five-pointed star shape; I've always sort of thought of the Starfleet arrowhead as a five-pointed star with the side points cut off.

 

[Mysterion]

Deltas were/are very common aerospace logos. I mean, the Army Astronaut device features a delta, a star and an ellipse.

The USAF Space Operations badges are even more Starfleet-esque: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_and_Missile_Badge

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I see Japan's space agency is called JAXA. Perhaps the inspiration for the name of the character, Sito Jaxa?

 

[Skywalker]

JAXA didn't exist until 2003, so probably not.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Oh. Alrighty then.

 

[TheSubCommander]

Any idea why that symbol is so predominant?

I think I vaguely remember a story from ancient Greece where a hero (or maybe a god) shoots an arrow into the sky towards the stars. Maybe Heracles, Orion, or Apollo? I'm not sure, and just too lazy to look it up. But given the tradition of naming planets after Greco-Roman mythology, I think maybe the delta symbolizes shooting an arrow into the sky?

 

[Christopher]

^That's getting too specific. It's just a basic projectile shape. Arrows, rocket nose cones, paper airplanes, etc. -- it just generally suggests flight. Not everyone is going to know any single specific myth or reference, but pretty much everyone has experience with something of that shape that flies through the air.