Mars flag patch

Size: 6.5 x 4 cm (2.56 x 1.57 inch)

The flag of Mars is a tricolour used to represent the planet of Mars. While not official in any legal sense, it has been approved by and is used by the Mars Society and The Planetary Society. The flag is designed to portray the "future history" of Mars. The red bar, which lies closest to the mast, symbolizes Mars as it is today. The green and blue symbolize stages in the possible terraforming of Mars should humanity ever have the will and the ability to undertake such a task, the ethics of terraforming remaining a matter of debate. Kim Stanley Robinson's popular trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars provided the concept for the flag. The design was originally proposed by NASA engineer Pascal Lee, during a summer 1999 expedition to Devon Island, Canada, as task force leader for the Mars Society's Mars Arctic Research Station project. The flag now flies over the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, and is displayed in several places on the Mars Desert Research Station campus in Utah. It has also flown in space, carried aboard the space shuttle Discovery by astronaut John M. Grunsfeld on STS-103 in 1999 (source: Wikipedia).