NASA hid a secret message on the parachute that landed its Perseverance rover down on the floor of Mars final week.
Web sleuths declare to have “cracked a code” hidden in photos from the Mars rover’s landing last week. Coloured patterns within the parachute used for touchdown seems to have been secretly inscribed with the phrase “Dare mighty issues,” a motto utilized by the Perseverance staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which serves as mission management for the Perseverance rover mission. Additionally embedded within the message are the geographic coordinates for JPL: 34°11’58” N 118°10’31” W.
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“dare mighty issues” ! Properly performed! @NASA @NASAPersevere pic.twitter.com/Di1hkFQApdFebruary 22, 2021
Throughout a information briefing on Monday (Feb. 22), NASA revealed the first video taken by Perseverance because it descended to and landed on the Martian floor Feb. 18. These watching could have observed a definite purple and white sample on the inside of the parachute. Allen Chen, the entry, descent and touchdown lead for the mission confirmed within the briefing that there was a hidden message, and he dared the general public to decode it.
“Along with enabling unimaginable science, we hope our efforts in our engineering can encourage others,” Chen mentioned throughout the briefing. “Generally we go away messages in our work for others to seek out for that objective, so we invite you all to offer it a shot and present your work.”
The rover would possibly even be hiding different secret messages, along with the staff motto on the parachute, Chen told The Verge. “Individuals cannot resist placing a little bit private contact of their work … However the overwhelming majority of those won’t ever be identified — even by me,” he mentioned.
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So, how does a seemingly normal-looking parachute disguise such a message? Properly, utilizing completely different shapes and patterns on the parachute material to symbolize completely different numbers, the staff at NASA was capable of show the messages in binary laptop code, in line with the Verge.
Relying on the form and placement of the red-and-white colour patterns patterns circling across the parachute’s heart, the segments symbolize completely different numbers which may be translated by way of binary code. Extremely, folks on the web cracked the code just some hours after NASA launched the video exhibiting the rover touchdown.
“It seems to be just like the web has cracked the code in one thing like 6 hours! Oh web is there something you possibly can’t do?” NASA Perseverance chief engineer Adam Steltzner tweeted about the impressive code-cracking.
It seems to be just like the web has cracked the code in one thing like 6 hours! Oh web is there something you possibly can’t do? For many who simply need to know: #Mars2020 #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/yTJCEnbuLYFebruary 23, 2021
This is not the primary time that JPL engineers have snuck a secret message onto one other planet.
Tiny holes dotted the hole, aluminum wheels of the company’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012 and continues to discover the Purple Planet to this present day. These holes served an vital objective by permitting Martian pebbles to fall by way of as an alternative of getting trapped within the car’s wheels, however the holes additionally spelled out a secret message: “JPL” in Morse code. So, because the rover drives across the floor of Mars it imprints “JPL” in Morse code into the Martian terrain because it goes.
E mail Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@house.com or comply with her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.
