Tricolor on Moon: Not guilty your honor!

The proud moment has finally arrived. The Chandrayaan landed its passenger, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on the lunar surface on 14th November. India is now one of only four countries to achieve this feat. This is such a moment that makes one feel proud of his / her identity, i.e., being Indian. It also lets us forget all the crap that goes on in everyday life. As expected, lots of voices have been raised in the west whether India could afford such a costly program. They have been answered by the ISRO (as they are directly accountable) and by common Indians whenever they faced such queries on internet forums. Personally, I feel it would be better to ignore such questions as we are well aware of the pros and cons of such missions and we need not justify them to others.

The MIP took the following pictures of the Moon on its way -





The MIP: It was a very hard landing for the MIP as it cruised at over 1.7 km/sec. to make a touchdown on the lunar surface at 8:31 PM IST. The ISRO never made a secret that the MIP would have to crash land if the mission was to be considered 'successful'. They also painted all the sides of the box-shaped MIP with the tricolor to signify India's arrival there. Now the legal question is did the ISRO disrespect the national flag? They knew that the lander would be destroyed on impact on the moon. With it, the national flag too, probably. The code of conduct (linked to a PDF) for the national flag lays out several rules of what constitutes respect and what doesn't. What constitutes disrespect is, however, still not clear. Celebrities have been harassed by media due to different interpretations. Sania Mirza faced wrath for putting her leg near the flag. This was considered an offense. A week after almost every Independence Day celebrations, all the paper flags that are put on street corners go down the drain and nobody bothers. Not even the people who felt offended by Sania Mirza's casual attitude. Coming back to ISRO. Have they disrespected the national flag? Don't know. Can a case be filed against them? Nope. Indian courts have no jurisdiction over the moon. Any case, the ISRO says the tricolor is intact. Phew, what a relief!