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Mars rover’s giant parachute carried secret message

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  dig  •  3 years ago  •  6 comments

By:   MARCIA DUNN (AP)

Mars rover’s giant parachute carried secret message

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S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft team.

Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot (21-meter) parachute. He also included the GPS coordinates for the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Clark, a crossword hobbyist, came up with the idea two years ago. Engineers wanted an unusual pattern in the nylon fabric to know how the parachute was oriented during descent. Turning it into a secret message was “super fun,” he said Tuesday.

Only about six people knew about the encoded message before Thursday’s landing, according to Clark. They waited until the parachute images came back before putting out a teaser during a televised news conference Monday.

It took just a few hours for space fans to figure it out, Clark said. Next time, he noted, “I’ll have to be a little bit more creative.”

“Dare Mighty Things” — a line from 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 encoding it but not making it too obvious,” Clark said.

As for the GPS coordinates, the spot is 10 feet (3 meters) from the entrance to JPL’s visitor center.

Another added touch not widely known until touchdown: Perseverance bears a plaque depicting all five of NASA’s Mars rovers in increasing size over the years — similar to the family car decals seen on Earth.

Deputy project manager Matt Wallace promises more so-called hidden Easter eggs. They should be visible once Perseverance’s 7-foot (2-meter) arm is deployed in a few days and starts photographing under the vehicle, and again when the rover is driving in a couple weeks.

“Definitely, definitely should keep a good lookout,” he urged.


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Dig
Professor Participates
1  seeder  Dig    3 years ago

Here's the source quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." The Strenuous Life (1899)
 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2  Trout Giggles    3 years ago
He also included the GPS coordinates for the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Why? Do they expect to find somebody up there who will ask for directions?

 
 
 
Dig
Professor Participates
2.1  seeder  Dig  replied to  Trout Giggles @2    3 years ago

LOL. 

I wonder if all the places with various lander debris will be protected parks someday, if we ever colonize Mars.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3  Kavika     3 years ago

Love the 'chute. 

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
4  Tacos!    3 years ago

Missed opportunity.

1-jpg.47268

 
 
 
Dig
Professor Participates
4.1  seeder  Dig  replied to  Tacos! @4    3 years ago

Ok, that made me laugh. That would have been hilarious.

 
 

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