On Monday, NASA launched unseen videos and audio from Rover perseverance landing on the surface of Mars. The footage contained a detailed look at the rover’s parachute – and space savvy enthusiasts soon discovered a hidden message written on it.
The parachute may seem to have a purely red and white decorative pattern, but after scientists let the secret message be understood, those familiar with the binary code discovered it within hours.
NASA scientists have hidden the phrase “Dare the Strong Things” in the parachute pattern, with parts of the model representing different numbers. It is a popular slogan of The team of perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The model’s outer rings also feature GPS coordinates for the JPL offices in Pasadena, California: 34 ° 11’58 “N 118 ° 10’31” W.
“In addition to allowing incredible science, we hope our engineering efforts can inspire others,” Allen Chen, the leader of the mission’s entry, descent and landing, said Monday in a news briefing on Monday. “Sometimes we leave messages in our work for others to find for this purpose, so we invite you all to take a hit and show your work.”
Perseverance chief engineer Adam Steltzner confirmed the message late Monday night.
The slogan is just one of many Easter eggs hidden on board the rover, which also bears stamped microchips with nearly 11 million names of space enthusiasts and the phrase “Explore as one”.
It also bears a COVID-19 memorial in the form of an aluminum plate with an image of the Earth supported by Asclepius’ Wand, an ancient Greek symbol for healing and medicine.
NASA has a history of including hidden messages on it rovers.
The Curiosity rover, which arrived on the red planet in 2012, has tiny holes in the wheels that say “JPL” in Morse code. So when Curiosity traveled to the surface of Mars, it stamped “JPL” on the ground wherever it went – soon wiped out by the harsh Martian winds.
“These types of embellishments add artistic elements to missions that are otherwise dominated exclusively by science and technology, as well as enduring tributes to colleagues who have helped pave the way for humanity to explore space,” said Jim Bell of State University. from Arizona, which helped festoon almost all of NASA’s Mars rovers, including Perseverance.