There was a secret message in a large parachute that NASA’s Perseverance rover used to land on Mars, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft crew.
Systems engineer Ian Clark used binary code to spell “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white stripes of the 21-meter parachute. It also included GPS coordinates for mission headquarters at the Jet Dedication Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Clark, a crossword puzzler, came up with the idea two years ago. Engineers wanted an unusual pattern in the nylon fabric to know how the parachute was steered at the time of descent. It was a lot of fun, “he said Tuesday.
Only about six people knew the coded message before it landed Thursday, according to Clark. They waited until the parachute images came back before putting out a teaser at a televised press conference on Monday.
It took space fans just a few hours to figure it out, Clark said. Next time, he noted, “I need to be a little more creative.”
“Dare Mighty Things” – a line from President Theodore Roosevelt – is JPL’s mantra and adorns many of the centre’s walls. The trick is “to try to code a method but not to make it too obvious,” Clark said.
In terms of GPS coordinates, the spot is 3 meters from the entrance to the JPL visitor center.
Another extra touch that wasn’t widely known until it went around: Perseverance carries a record that shows NASA’s five of the Mars’s orbits in ever-increasing size over the years – similar to the family car decals seen on Earth.
The project’s deputy manager, Matt Wallace, promises more hidden Easter eggs. They should be visible once Perseverance’s 2-meter arm is inserted in a few days and start taking pictures under the vehicle, and again when the rover starts drive in two weeks.
“Of course, it should be closely monitored,” he said.