NASA hid a secret message on the parachute that landed its Perseverance rover down on the floor of Mars final week.
Internet sleuths declare to have “cracked a code” hidden in photos from the Mars rover’s touchdown final week. Colored patterns within the parachute used for touchdown seems to have been secretly inscribed with the phrase “Dare mighty things,” a motto utilized by the Perseverance workforce at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which serves as mission management for the Perseverance rover mission. Also embedded within the message are the geographic coordinates for JPL: 34°11’58” N 118°10’31” W.
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“dare mighty things” ! Well completed! @NASA @NASAPersevere pic.twitter.com/Di1hkFQApdFebruary 22, 2021
During a news briefing on Monday (Feb. 22), NASA revealed the primary video taken by Perseverance because it descended to and landed on the Martian floor Feb. 18. Those watching could have seen a definite pink 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.
“In addition to enabling incredible science, we hope our efforts in our engineering can inspire others,” Chen stated through the briefing. “Sometimes we leave messages in our work for others to find for that purpose, so we invite you all to give it a shot and show your work.”
The rover may even be hiding different secret messages, along with the workforce motto on the parachute, Chen instructed The Verge. “People can’t resist putting a little personal touch in their work … But the vast majority of these will never be known — even by me,” he stated.
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So, how does a seemingly normal-looking parachute conceal such a message? Well, utilizing completely different shapes and patterns on the parachute cloth to characterize completely different numbers, the workforce at NASA was in a position to show the messages in binary laptop code, in accordance with the Verge.
Depending on the form and placement of the red-and-white shade patterns patterns circling across the parachute’s heart, the segments characterize completely different numbers which will be translated by binary code. Incredibly, individuals on the web cracked the code only a few hours after NASA launched the video displaying the rover touchdown.
“It looks like the internet has cracked the code in something like 6 hours! Oh internet is there anything you can’t do?” NASA Perseverance chief engineer Adam Steltzner tweeted about the impressive code-cracking.
It seems 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 those that simply wish 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 Red Planet to today. These holes served an essential objective by permitting Martian pebbles to fall by 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.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@area.com or observe her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.