Amateur puzzle fans raved this week when NASA revealed it had hidden a secret color-coded message on the parachute from the Perseverance rover that landed on Mars last week.
Written by systems engineer Ian Clark in binary code using alternating white and orange strips on the 70-foot parachute, the message spelled out the NASA motto “Dare Mighty Things,” which comes from a quote by Theodore Roosevelt.
Clark, the parachute’s lead developer, had an interesting problem encoding the message – he couldn’t use colors that hadn’t already been tested in Mars’ atmosphere. Various dyes can weaken its integrity in its harsh environment.
“There are all kinds of doubting questions,” Clark said according to The New York Times. “Like having more white than orange, or vice versa, could mean the parachute would heat up differently and maybe that would change its behavior?”
BUZZ ALDRIN RESPONDS TO NASA’S ENDURANCE ROVER LANDING ON MARS
Clark said when he asked Deputy Project Manager Matt Wallace if he could parachute a message, his only advice was to “make sure it was appropriate and could not be misinterpreted”.
Only about six people knew about the scrambled message before last Thursday’s landing, said Clark, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, who called creating the scrambled message “super fun.”
He said it only took a few hours for puzzle solvers to figure out what the binary-coded message was after it was teased at Monday’s press conference.
“I’ll have to be a little more creative next time,” he said.
HOW WILL NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER ENGINEERS CONTROL FIRST HELICOPTER ON MARS?
Clark also included the GPS coordinates of the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in the message – “34 ° 11’58” N 118 ° 10’31. “
During the press conference, engineer Allen Chen, who was in charge of the landing system, told space fans: “Sometimes we leave messages in our work that others can find for that purpose. So we invite you all to give it a try and your work . “
Alternating black and white – or orange and white in this case – is often a hint that something is in binary code, giving enthusiasts their first clue.
Eventually, Internet detectives realized that the string of ones and zeros fit in groups of 10 and delivered the inspirational message on the parachute’s three inner rings, according to The Times.
Within hours, IT student Maxence Abela posted his answer on Twitter.
“Looks like the internet cracked the code in about 6 hours!” Adam Steltzner, the mission’s chief engineer, tweeted and showed a graph of the answer.
According to The Times, a message has also been written on a plaque that will be used to calibrate a camera on the rover.
It says, “Are we alone? We have come here to look for signs of life and to collect samples from Mars for study on Earth. To those who follow, we wish a safe journey and the pleasure of discovery.”
The plaque also contains images of all five of NASA’s Mars rovers increasingly over the years.
And Wallace has promised more Easter eggs related to the robber.
He said they should be visible once Perseverance’s six-foot arm is deployed in a few days and starts shooting underneath the vehicle, and again when the rover moves in a few weeks.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Absolutely, should be careful,” he insisted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.