A student at a Swedish university has developed a design for the “International Flag of the Earth”, which is planned to be installed on planets that have been mastered by human civilization.
The student project, which Oscar Pernefeldt developed as a bachelor’s degree in the arts at Beckman College of Design in Stockholm, is a flag depicting several linked white circles on a blue background. According to Pernefeldt, the idea is to remind people of connectedness, since we all, regardless of origin, inhabit the Earth.
“In current space missions, the national flags of the countries of the Earth are used, depending on the source of travel funding. Meanwhile, astronauts are more than just representatives of their own countries. They are representatives of the planet Earth, ”Pernefeldt wrote on the project website. Thus, international cooperation is likely to be of great importance in the forthcoming missions of people to explore Mars and other destinations in space, partly because of the high costs of such studies.
“Scientific knowledge of flags is called vexillology, and the practice of developing flags is called vexillography,” Pernefeldt added. “Both are derived from a science like heraldry. The methods contain a number of informal codes on design, color, proportions and other aesthetic aspects. "
And, although the project’s web site does not mention the plans of space agencies to use the flag design developed by Pernefeldt, there are several pictures confirming the fact of its use on missions to Mars and Antarctica.
