The copper was used to switch the color registers between the logo and the rest of the image. Nearly all palette entries are changed, except the orange background colors which have to remain the same between both palettes so that the switch doesn't get noticed.
Same background but different spaceship. There are no visible artifacts and the previously obscured explosion looks coherent to the rest of the style. I think it's highly likely that this was an earlier artwork from Arno.
Original title art for Starray on the Atari-ST by Pete Lyon. It looks like this may have been inspired by the variation of the title screen, since the spaceship is flying in the same direction and also has similarly double-angled wings.
