Logotipo do satélite espião dos EUA imita super-polvo vilão gigante do espaço que envolve a Terra em charge de propaganda anticomunista

                     

Over the past couple of years, the world has been made very aware of the of various governments’ tendrils of espionage. Just yesterday, we learned that the NSA and other intelligence agencies teamed up to spy on World of Warcraft and Xbox Live, demonstrating the lengths that those agencies would go to gather intelligence. Like the internet’s infamous rule 34, at this point we should just all assume that if something is able to be spied on, some government somewhere is spying on it. Perhaps the US government isn’t hiding its intent anymore, because it slapped an image of a space octopus eating our planet on a new spy satellite.

The new surveillance satellite, launched by the National Reconnaissance Office last Thursday, features the ominous, world-eating space octopus, seen below.

              

While the logo of an octopus wrapping its tentacles around the globe — complete with the text “Nothing is Beyond Our Reach” — may seem like a patch a supervillain would sew onto the jumpsuits of his henchmen, the NRO sees it differently. Talking to Forbes, a spokeswoman said the satellite is “represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature,” going on to say that tentacles symbolize being able to reach the country’s enemies no matter where they’re located.

Even if the satellite has an angry-looking space octopus as its chosen symbol, the launch was a sight to behold.

Atlas V NROL-39 Launch Highlights

Ars Technica commenter, PsionEdge, pointed out that the imagery used on the satellite is quite similar to communist-related propaganda, seen below.

               

This symbol isn’t exactly making anyone feel better about the US government’s data collection intent. However, we all know governments spy, so they might as well own up to it. This symbol is a good start; maybe the next giant angry octopus will be painted green?