what will be the first flag planted on mars be?

[basbr]

NASA's budget is decreasing every year and china, India, ESA, Russia and japan are making strides in the exploration of space,

so there is a chance that the first flag planted on mars might not be the stars and stripes of the USA. who do you think will be the first nation/organization to land a man/woman on a different planet?

and will they even plant a flag or is that waist of space and weight to carry all the way to mars?

anyway i would like the hear what everybody thinks.

 

[r4pt0r]

Hope its old glory. I want to live to see a new era of American exceptionalism.

[ModZero]

It's not going to be a flag...

...it's going to be a baguette.

 

More  seriously, I think we're talking decades, so predictions are premature to the point where the flag might be of the Holy Empire of Luxembourg, or Unitet Soviet Republic of Canada & Texas (no real USR can stand not having an odd oblast in a random spot on the map). Currently there's very little real motivation for sending manned missions wherever (even the prestige/might thing got worn down, and science generally works better with robots, lots of robots), so the main driver are theoretical enormous drops in space access and travel time (on the level of sudden development of fusion engines, presumably by Luxembourg).

Having said that, of course it's going to be Russian. It's the red planet, after all.

[Mitchz95]

I like to think it'll either be SpaceX or the stars and stripes. Not sure how far the former will go in the long run, but I think they have a better chance than NASA does right now.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Mitchz95

[Kerbart]

2 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

I like to think it'll either be SpaceX or the stars and stripes. Not sure how far the former will go in the long run, but I think they have a better chance than NASA does right now.

Boeing has their own astronauts, so I could see how they'd be putting up a Boeing flat. But SpaceX is a contractor who delivers the vehicle but nothing else. If NASA bankrolls the operation, I bet that NASA's astronauts will be carrying an American flag, not the flag of “some contractor” with them.

If, on the other hand, SpaceX has a privately funded and self-managed mission to Mars... now that would be cool! Unlikely, but cool.

[ModZero]

24 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

If, on the other hand, SpaceX has a privately funded and self-managed mission to Mars... now that would be cool! Unlikely, but cool.

That's because you didn't think it through. A private, self-managed mission to Mars would be more terrifying than cool. Musk already has shown disdain towards concepts such as "labor rights" and "planetary protection". I'm going to be watching the F9 landing attempt because tech is cool, but there are places I prefer democratically elected governments. Managing a planet is definitely one of those places.

[fredinno]

It'll be the great Kerbal Race.

[ChrisSpace]

Sealand. Oh, you wanted an actual answer? Probably the flag of either the US, China, Russia or SpaceX.

[K^2]

2 hours ago, ModZero said:

Having said that, of course it's going to be Russian. It's the red planet, after all.

Russians aren't as red as they used to be. By this logic, it will be Chinese. That's also a somewhat more plausible possibility.

[Elthy]

Since it will propably be some sort of international colaboration well maybe see a mission flag or something like the flag of the UN...

[justidutch]

McDonalds

[Albert VDS]

A combined flag of participating countries.

[PB666]

M$

It will be a japanese contract droid built for microsoft sent to mars on a cubesat with a cannae drive solar panel and using a giant inflatable air bag to land. The goal of the mission is to establish the first wifi hub on mars. 

Edited December 22, 2015 by PB666

[ChrisSpace]

51 minutes ago, justidutch said:

McDonalds

Yes, yes that is it.

[FishInferno]

My bet is it will be an American flag, but it will be SpaceX that does it.

[Bill Phil]

NASA is doing well now, actually. But Mars s still far off, for everyone. 

I hope it's the UN flag, with national flags placed in the order of contribution.

[Robotengineer]

SpaceX flag. Perhaps the American flag but it will be SpaceX planting it. No other organization has the willpower to do it.

[RainDreamer]

2 hours ago, PB666 said:

M$

It will be a japanese contract droid built for microsoft sent to mars on a cubesat with a cannae drive solar panel and using a giant inflatable air bag to land. The goal of the mission is to establish the first wifi hub on mars. 

Google is more likely to do something like that.

[DECQ]

The first flag on Mars install space pirates ...Know Jolly Roger, it will be the first...

[Nibb31]

Mars-3 landed a Soviet flag in 1972.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Nibb31

[Dman979]

7 minutes ago, Nibb31 said:

Mars-3 landed a Soviet flag in 1972.

But was it planted, or just... there?

I think it there will be a flag (the propaganda value is huge!), but I don't know what nation it will be from.

[DECQ]

On 22-12-2015 at 8:30 AM, Nibb31 said:

Mars-3 landed a Soviet flag in 1972.

Unfortunately, many people only know about America.

Edited December 23, 2015 by KasperVld

[Bill Phil]

2 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

Mars-3 landed a Soviet flag in 1972.

Does that count as planting?

That flag was probably also on the lunar impactors.

[A35K]

Well, the Cold War is long gone, so I don't see the point of bringing any national flag. I only hope that whoever lands on Mars first will bring a flag that represents humanity and the World as a whole.

[Nibb31]

7 hours ago, Robotengineer said:

SpaceX flag. Perhaps the American flag but it will be SpaceX planting it. No other organization has the willpower to do it.

SpaceX has an American flag on its rockets. Up until now, commercial rockets have been sticking to maritime tradition by carrying the flag of their country of registration.

Oh, and SpaceX isn't going anywhere without somebody paying for the trip. Even if SpaceX gets to Mars, it will probably be a chartered flight by NASA or an international mission.