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The Story Behind National Reconnaissance Office's Octopus Logo (muckrock.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-affiliated-with-hydra dept.

v3rgEz writes: When the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) announced the upcoming launch of their NROL-39 mission back in December 2013, they didn't get quite the response they hoped. That might have had something to do with the mission logo being a gigantic octopus devouring the Earth. Researcher Runa Sandvik wanted to know who approved this and why, so she filed a Freedom of Information Act with the NRO for the development materials that went into the logo. A few months later, the NRO delivered.

15 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Hail Hydra by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    opps, did we let the logo go public?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:Hail Hydra by khasim · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hydras are supposed to have lots of heads on one body. Not one head on one body with lots of arms.

      Stupid secret Hydra organization. That's why you keep getting beaten.

    2. Re: Hail Hydra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Exactly, it was a joke on the engineering team about a malfunctioning octopus harness.

      Everybody came up with some BS reason for the octopus as the "official" explanation (majestic intellIgent animal, etc), but it's all basically an inside joke.

  2. I like it by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's something you can really wrap your arms around.

    1. Re:I like it by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Funny

      There's a sucker in every cup.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  3. Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by Rinikusu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd love to have that on a sticker on my laptop or a patch on my punk rock hoodie.

    --
    If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
    1. Re:Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by Baloroth · · Score: 5, Informative

      Honestly, a lot of their patches are badass. The octopus isn't even the most... interesting, that'd probably be this thing.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    2. Re: Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by TheReaperD · · Score: 2

      OK, I have a little more respect for them now. They have either a dark sense of humor, big brass balls or both.

      --
      "Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
    3. Re:Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd love to have that on a sticker on my laptop or a patch on my punk rock hoodie.

      I'm with you on this. Patches are a chance for crews to add some fun and enjoy and inside joke. Our boat had its official patch and an unofficial one. The unofficial one was a lot better at capturing the spirit of our crew. The brass, however, nixed it as our official one because it wasn't serious enough. We were serious about our mission but a little humor goes a long way to build espirt de corps...

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    4. Re:Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 3, Funny

      My thoughts as I looked through the list-

      Awesome
      Awesome
      Statue of Liberty in Space
      Awesome
      Cute fuzzy brown bear
      Awesome

    5. Re: Personally, I think it's pretty badass. by ultranova · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They have either a dark sense of humor, big brass balls or both.

      Or they are patriots desperately trying to get some kind of reaction. How else do you explain using an angry dragon with red eyes gripping the world - and especially North America - in its talons as a logo? Even in a nation where Evangelical Christianity - and thus the Book of Revelation - wasn't a big deal that is a villain logo.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  4. Mystery octopus harness? by JWSmythe · · Score: 2

    This?

    specifically, when a side solar panel is not installed, the C3038 Octopus harness must be connected.

    It's not like this news is new anyways. It took me about a whole minute to find these.

    It's not like I should expect much better.

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  5. For the Love of God, follow the link by hyades1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The two paragraph statement written by some drone to justify the selection of the octopus as a logo is priceless. It reads like something a Grade 6 kid would put down when they get their first hundred-word research assignment.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  6. Re:Holy crap! by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    showing planes coming back from having DROPPED AN ATOMIC BOMB ON THE PLANET!!! (Caption: "we own the night")

    Pretty sure that's a sunrise, but it's still badass. This is a reconnaissance organization, remember.

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  7. Re:Holy crap! by radarskiy · · Score: 4, Informative

    "over a *burning planet* "
    That is a phoenix arising from it's own ashes (possibly disturbing, but in a different way).

    "effectively the emblem of the Klingon Empire."
    That is an eagle's foot, with 4 talons pointed in. The Klingon Empire's emblem has three knife blades facing out. The only thing in common is that there are some points.

    "planes coming back from having DROPPED AN ATOMIC BOMB ON THE PLANET!!! "

    That is the sun just visible over the horizon as the planes are crossing the night face of the earth, which they claim to own the in the motto which you cite.