This Could Become the Official Flag of Planet Earth

The first manned mission to Mars is planned for the 2030s. But when the first humans land on Mars, which flag will they stick in the ground?

It is a common practice that astronauts bear an emblem of their own countries on their space suits. But wouldn’t it be more reasonable to use a flag which would represent our planet as a whole, without emphasizing national boundaries? After all, the Mars colonists will be of different origins and will represent the planet Earth, rather than a particular country.

The design

This is the vision of Oskar Pernefeldt, a graduate of Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, Sweden, who designed an international flag of planet Earth for his graduate project.

The colors, proportions and general aesthetics of the flag are in accordance with the principles of vexillography – the practice of designing flags.

As for the symbolic explanation, the flower formed by seven rings in the center of the flag symbolizes the life on Earth.

“The rings are linked to each other, which represents how everything on our planet, directly or indirectly, are linked,” Pernefeldt wrote on his website.

The colors have some meaning too – blue represents water, which is a key component for life on Earth and occupies 71% of our planet’s surface.

“The flower’s outer rings form a circle which could be seen as a symbol of Earth as a planet and the blue surface could represent the universe.”

Despite the fact that the flag was designed for the purposes of space travel, Pernefeldt thinks that it could be used here on Earth too. In this case, it would help evoke the feeling of global community in people all over the world, reminding them that we all are connected and should take care of our home planet and each other.

Till now, it’s only a project, and Pernefeldt’s design hasn’t been approved to be used as the official flag of planet Earth, but it has the potential to become so in the future.

Sacred geometry

What is even more amazing about Pernefeldt’s flag design idea is how the author used a sacred geometry symbol. In fact, it is called the ‘Seed of Life’ and you can see it in the image below:

According to sacred geometry, it is a universal symbol of creation which represents the divine design within all beings and things. Its pattern can be found in the center of another ancient symbol called the ‘Flower of Life.’ Just like the design suggested by Pernefeldt, the Seed of Life is formed by 7 interlinked rings of the same size which create a flower pattern.

The number of the rings in the Seed of Life is not a coincidence as well. It could be associated with the chakras, the colors of the rainbow and even the musical scale. In general, this ancient pattern symbolizes the foundation of life and the fractal, infinite nature of the universe.

Thus, the symbolic meaning behind the Seed of Life is quite similar to what Oskar Pernefeldt attempted to represent with his flag design – universal connection, global unity and life itself.

Here’s a video of how it was created:

Do you like Pernefeldt’s concept? Do you think that it is a good idea for a flag representing our entire planet? Share your thoughts with us.

image credits: “Design student Oskar Pernefeldt took it upon himself to design a flag for Planet Earth.”