It will be a while before we can actually colonise Mars (no matter what Elon Musk says). But when we get there, an official tartan will be ready for the outfits.
Composite: NASA/Register of Tartans
As spotted by Twitter account MarsToday, the official Scottish Register of Tartans now has an official tartan dedicated to Mars exploration. The tartan was designed by Geoffrey (Tailor) Highland Crafts on behalf of Charles Cockwell, an astrobiology professor at Edinburgh University. (A tartan is the official name for the pattern. In Australia, we sometimes call it plaid, whereas in Scotland a “plaid” refers to a scarf or blanket bearing a certain tartan.)
Check it out:
This is how the registration page describes the design:
This tartan is intended to be worn during Mars science, exploration and outreach activities. Colours: the red background depicts the surface of Mars, the Red Planet; blue depicts the water-rich past of Mars and the presence of water, mainly as ice, on the planet today; the four green lines represent Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, the presence of habitable conditions on the planet and the possible future presence of life in the form of human settlement; the thick white line represents the Martian poles, visible from the Earth, a conspicuous and important feature of the planet and its long-term climatic cycles.
Gizmodo’s own Adam Clark Estes says that he would “totally wear it”. It looks nice, Adam! So wear it with pride, Mars explorers. Wear it with pride.