what will be the first flag planted on mars be?

[Nibb31]

1 hour ago, Elthy said:

Who is DoD?

Department of Defense

Edited January 1, 2016 by Nibb31

[Elthy]

I guess you mean the US one...

Anyway, why would they plant a flag there? Nothing of interesst from a military point of view on Mars...

[MajorLeaugeRocketScience]

15 hours ago, Elthy said:

I guess you mean the US one...

Anyway, why would they plant a flag there? Nothing of interesst from a military point of view on Mars...

Except from having a base where no one can reach, no spy satellites fly, and you could do anything without another nation noticing. Actually, I didn't mean to say DoD. I meant to say DARPA if anyone knows what that is. Essentially to the US what Peenemundee was to the Germans. Making big scientific advances for "defense". (Seriously, they have a SSTO under construction)

[Nibb31]

2 hours ago, MajorLeaugeRocketScience said:

(Seriously, they have a SSTO under construction)

No they don't.

We all know what DARPA is, thank you.

[MajorLeaugeRocketScience]

Some people don't I have friends in Germany and Russia who had no idea who they were. And yes, they have the XS-1. I would know, I know an engineer.

[ChrisSpace]

Serious: I think it's be the UN's flag to represent the whole world.

Unlikely, but its a good idea.

My vote is for a China-US-Euro co-op. Of course 99.99999999% chance of not happening, but would be great. I think a UN space agency is possible though. Also, my list of chances to go to Mars by 2040:

Nasa: 1 in 3

DoD: 0.75 in 2

Eueropean Union: 1 in 10

SpaceX: 1 in 7(?)

China: 1 in 4 (<---probably going to land)

Russia: 1 in 100

Mars One: Zero Chance

Apple/Disney: 1 in 20(lol, if they spent their money)

Edit: I wish so freaking bad Russia had a chance.

This is an interesting perspective. But I doubt the ESA or DoD would do it. Also don't place your bets too heavily on NASA.

Anyway, why would they plant a flag there? Nothing of interest from a military point of view on Mars...

If there was oil on Mars, we'd be there by February.

(Seriously, they have a SSTO under construction)

Wait wut? This is the first I have heard of this?

[Nibb31]

17 hours ago, MajorLeaugeRocketScience said:

Some people don't I have friends in Germany and Russia who had no idea who they were. And yes, they have the XS-1. I would know, I know an engineer.

XS-1 is a development competition for a first stage that gets to Mach 10 with a small payload. Basically, it's a first stage, not an SSTO.

[fredinno]

11 hours ago, ChrisSpace said:

 

 

Unlikely, but its a good idea.

 

 

This is an interesting perspective. But I doubt the ESA or DoD would do it. Also don't place your bets too heavily on NASA.

 

 

If there was oil on Mars, we'd be there by February.

 

 

Wait wut? This is the first I have heard of this?

Even if there was oil onMars, it would barely matter- the EOREI from doing so would likely be in the negatives. Hell, TITAN has more oil and Natural gas than Earth-nobody's planning to drill there anytime soon.

[MajorLeaugeRocketScience]

And Europa has approximately 3x more water than Earth. Would solve most of these world problems. Of course, won't be there for at least 70 years. 

The only way to get a Mars mission sped up is to have the Chinese declare it their goal and push towards it like crazy. Speaking of Chinese and goals, anyone else hear that the first Long March 5 is over half-way done? They expect 2 years until a manned lunar fly-by (2018)

[ChrisSpace]

2 hours ago, MajorLeaugeRocketScience said:

They expect 2 years until a manned lunar fly-by (2018)

Source? This is the first I have heard of this.

[KerbMav]

On 22.12.2015 at 0:19 PM, worir4 said:

I hope that a flag will be planted that will simply say 'Humans were here' on top of an image of the Earth.

 

On 22.12.2015 at 0:25 AM, cubinator said:

I'll see to it myself.

 

On 23.12.2015 at 8:40 AM, razark said:

This sounds more and more like a reason to not send any flags than anything else.

I would really like something like this - or for the mission team, upon returning to Earth, to hand over any flags they were given to plant on Mars with the words "Sorry, there was so much more important to do we just could not make the time."
 

On 23.12.2015 at 2:27 PM, adsii1970 said:

Then you misunderstand the purposes of flags. Flags, whether they be nations, corporations, or movements, represent the best intentions and desires of a group of people. The colored piece of cloth is, in all practical purposes, a totem, and becomes the embodiment of the desired social traits, heritage, and personality of the nation. It is an object that serves to identify a group of like people that share a common heritage, common societal traits, and common identity. It is, for all practical purposes, a version of totem poles used by Nordic peoples of Scandinavia and American Indians of the American/Canadian Pacific Northwest.

Strange that a group of people with so many different heritages would gather under a common flag to distinguish themselves from the countries they came from.
 

On 23.12.2015 at 6:02 PM, tater said:

There is no reason why an international Mars mission should not have the EU paying in just as much as the US does, for example, the total populations are not dissimilar. This sort of thing would require a 10 fold increase in the ESA budget I think. Is that tenable within EU politics? 

The EU is nowhere similar to the USA when it comes to the Union/United part of the name. It is more a lot of indepentdent European nations trying to cooperate as much as possible - which is of course a far better idea than what they did in the centuries before ...

[adsii1970]

17 minutes ago, KerbMav said:

Strange that a group of people with so many different heritages would gather under a common flag to distinguish themselves from the countries they came from.

Nope, not strange at all when you consider even their commonalities from an anthropological viewpoint.Rather than identifying with their traditional or original group; these people with many different heritages (as you've stated) gather together - to create a new identity symbolized by a new banner or other symbol as the focal point. Humankind is a social entity and if you even break it down to the smallest element of any society - to individuals - even the most reclusive hermit will seek out companionship at various points in their life. To use a tired old metaphor, it's human nature to want to be defined as a part of a larger group. This is precisely what KSP has allowed, through this forum, for its players to do.

[Deadpangod3]

Why the flag of a country? The species of one planet travels several thousand miles to another planet, just to plant a flag that a fraction of its kind stands for? Why not have our planet on the flag? The pale blue marble we came from, and will return to? Instead of one country's flag, why not have every country on the flag?

[fredinno]

2 hours ago, Deadpangod3 said:

Why the flag of a country? The species of one planet travels several thousand miles to another planet, just to plant a flag that a fraction of its kind stands for? Why not have our planet on the flag? The pale blue marble we came from, and will return to? Instead of one country's flag, why not have every country on the flag?

That's horrible for the purposes of national pride, unless the mission is undertaken by every nation. Flags with your nation's flag on it representing a major achievement is a good way to increase national pride.

[Andem]

Odds are, the flag will be UN, seeing as it would need to be a collaberation to gather the funds. Now, the nationality of the first astronaut on mars is what i want to know.

[RainDreamer]

2 minutes ago, Andem said:

Odds are, the flag will be UN, seeing as it would need to be a collaberation to gather the funds. Now, the nationality of the first astronaut on mars is what i want to know.

If it is a collaborative mission, then likely there will be a diverse team on that mission landing together on a lander at once. Who get to set foot first on mars though, probably will be totally random. Or they jump together down.

[Nibb31]

17 minutes ago, Andem said:

Odds are, the flag will be UN, seeing as it would need to be a collaberation to gather the funds. Now, the nationality of the first astronaut on mars is what i want to know.

Did you even read the thread before replying? The UN has nothing to do with space exploration. Even if a Mars landing was collaborative effort, it wouldn't have anything to do with UN organization.

[Andem]

@Nibb31 I know that... I also know that everybody will want their own flag, and everybody will argue about it, so either there will be X amount of flags on one mission or somebody intelligent will say: International effort, lets put up a UN flag! (At least I hope that happens )

 

Also, @freddino oil is (as far as we know) something you will only find on earth. Oil is the result of biomatter being compressed and refined...

Edited January 10, 2016 by Andem

[RainDreamer]

There are methane gas planets. I am sure there will be planet with oceans of oil.

[WinkAllKerb'']

 

Quote

blablablabla dod here blablabla dod there

mine is bigger, controversy, ovum genocidal eugenism, men oh! pause oppose, let me spread my speramozoid i reload fast, politic, religion ...
humanity is just borin' will they ever learn to become, after 50 000 years of sepultural ritual @ C14 archeo datation, whµman and build an ark (@random metaphor amongst many otherZzzzZzzzZzzz) before the sun explode and we start breeding using honey ...

not even worth a schoolyard talk ...

so much Nfun ... but previsible ... selfish people go away ... there's no room for you in space, and eat youre whatever flag and suffocate with it. thks.

- to bee continued by a termite - shakespear you & me & you 

Kindly - justarandombeing (a guy in that case) almost dead - that make simple draw with simple word to sum up the situation -

Edited January 10, 2016 by WinkAllKerb''

[fredinno]

7 hours ago, Andem said:

@Nibb31 I know that... I also know that everybody will want their own flag, and everybody will argue about it, so either there will be X amount of flags on one mission or somebody intelligent will say: International effort, lets put up a UN flag! (At least I hope that happens )

 

Also, @freddino oil is (as far as we know) something you will only find on earth. Oil is the result of biomatter being compressed and refined...

Hydrocarbons (including oil hydrocarbons)  can form in other ways too, otherwise we would not have Titan.

[swjr-swis]

Astronaut, sticking whatever flag into martian soil: "I claim this planet for <pickyourallegiance>."

Martians, coming out of hiding: "You can't claim us. We live here. 500 million of us."

Astronaut: "Do you have a flag? "

Martians: "We don't need a bloody flag, it's our planet, you <martianexpletive>!"

Astronaut: "No flag, no planet, you can't have one. That's the rules that I've just made up."

(Eddie Izzard is a space age visionary )

[Andem]

2 hours ago, fredinno said:

Hydrocarbons (including oil hydrocarbons)  can form in other ways too, otherwise we would not have Titan.

I seem to ave my facts jumbled up (or maybe just my definitions )... I thought that when the hydrocarbons formed it was considered natural gas, but when biomatter became oil it was oil mainly because of the composition...