Forum: scifi.stackexchange.com
Tags: <star-trek><star-trek-insignias>
Title: What does the Starfleet insignia represent?
Question: A consistent part of the Starfleet uniforms in the Star Trek shows and movies has been some version of this insignia:   I originally thought this was a stylized letter "A", but that doesn't really make sense.  What is this symbol supposed to represent?

Answers:
sents: text: This has been retconned over the years.
text: This is the most current version, that I know of:
text: This is the NASA insignia:
text: This is the United Earth Starfleet insignia (in the 2150s, ENT-era):
text: These are the TNG-DS9-VOY-era Starfleet insignias:
text: And one further variation from the future:
text: Originally, this was Starfleet's insignia in the TOS era (no explanation given):
text: The truth is, the symbol we all know was originally the assignment patch for Kirk's Enterprise.
text: In that era, each ship had their own symbol, and the pennant seen above was Starfleet's.
text: The Enterprise symbol was later adopted for all of Starfleet in recognition of that five-year mission (in-universe).
text: For alternate examples:
text: This is Admiral James Komack, wearing the Starfleet admiral patch/pin of that time :
text: This is Commodore Matt Decker, former captain of the USS Constellation , wearing the insignia for his ship: From left to right, these are the assignment patches for the USS Exeter , the USS Defiant , and finally, the USS Enterprise :
text: And there's a whole lot more , in every era prior to TNG.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/2242/Izkata
score: 71
sents: text: It is my understanding that the symbol is a stylized version of the NASA emblem of our time.
text: Memory Alpha also leans towards a connection between Star Trek and the NASA badge:
text: In a form of fact emulating fiction (and vice-versa), the US Air Force Space Command badges have a delta arrowhead very similar to the 1960s-designed Enterprise insignia, while the 22nd century Starfleet insignia seems to be a deliberate synthesis between the TOS era pennant and the NASA logo.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/4356/Major Stackings
score: 31
sents: text: I vaguely remember a Star Trek novel named "Federation" where both the TOS and TNG Enterprises are involved with Zephram Cochrane and in that novel a decsription of the insignia was given based on the physics of the warp drive.
text: In that book, the insignia represents how warp drive sidesteps relativistic mass dilation.
text: The top curve represents the energy required to continue accelerating at near-light speeds, which approaches infinity.
text: IF you could somehow exceed the speed of light, that would then work backwards
text: (higher energy would result in you moving slower.
text: Time would also run in reverse.).
text: The lower curve represents how warp drive cheats.
text: However, being a book, this is not canon
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/7572/Keith Wolters
score: 12
sents: text: I seem to remember reading an article back in the early '70s
text: that attributed some influence on the emblem to the constellation Aquila, the Eagle.
text: I can not attest to the accuracy of this, but there is some resemblance.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/32132/Kevin
score: 2
sents: text: I've figured it out...
text: it's an upside down harp.
text: Occurred to me while watching this video.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/37006/woodcreative
score: 1
sents: text: Its the USAF Space Command insignia prior to NASA. http://www.afspc.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/web/2013/08/130821-F-AS983-002.jpg
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/21008/John Farrell
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
The symbol is a stylized version of the NASA insignia of our time.   
This is a stylised version of the NASA insignia.