CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) – The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover from the spacecraft team.
System engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to delimit “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white bands of the 70-foot parachute. He also included GPS coordinates for the mission headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Clark, a crossword puzzle hobbyist, came up with the idea two years ago. The engineers wanted an unusual pattern in the nylon fabric to know how the parachute was oriented during the descent. Turning it into a secret message was “super fun,” he said Tuesday.
Only about six people knew about the coded message before Thursday’s landing, according to Clark. They waited until the images of the parachute returned before releasing a teaser during a press conference televised on Monday.
It only took a few hours for fans of the space to realize, Clark said. Next time, he remarked, “I’ll have to be a little more creative.”
“Dare Mighty Things” – a line by President Theodore Roosevelt – is a mantra at JPL and adorns many of the center’s walls. The trick was “trying to come up with a way of coding, but it didn’t make it too obvious,” Clark said.
In terms of GPS coordinates, the location is 10 feet from the entrance to the JPL visitor center.
Another added note, which is not known to the touch: Perseverance bears a plaque depicting all five NASA Mars rovers growing over the years – similar to the stickers of family cars seen on Earth.
Another added note, which is not known to the touch: Perseverance bears a plaque depicting all five NASA Mars rovers growing over the years – similar to the stickers of family cars seen on Earth.
Deputy Project Director Matt Wallace promises more so-called hidden Easter eggs. These should be visible once the Perseverance’s 7-foot arm is deployed in a few days and starts shooting under the vehicle and again when the rover is driving in a few weeks.
“He should definitely keep a good eye on it,” he urged.
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