Parachute For Mars Rover Mars contains a secret message

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The massive parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars carried a secret message, courtesy of a puzzle enthusiast from the space team.

Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot (21-meter) parachute. He also recorded the GPS coordinates of 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 aimed during the descent. It was “super fun” to turn it into a secret message, he said Tuesday.

According to Clark, only about six people knew about the encrypted message before Thursday’s landing. They waited for the parachute footage to return before releasing a teaser at a televised press conference on Monday.

It only took a few hours for space fans to find out, Clark said. The next time he commented, “I’ll have to be a little more creative.”

“Dare Mighty Things” – a phrase from President Theodore Roosevelt – is a mantra at JPL and adorns many of the downtown walls. The trick was “trying to figure out a way to code 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 the JPL Visitor Center.

Another perk that wasn’t widely known until landing: Perseverance carries a plaque displaying all five of NASA’s Mars rovers increasingly over the years – similar to the family car stickers seen on Earth.

Deputy Project Manager Matt Wallace promises more so-called hidden Easter eggs. They should be visible once the 2-meter (7-foot) arm is deployed within a few days and starts shooting under the vehicle, and again when the rover is moving in a few weeks.

“Absolutely, should be careful,” he insisted.

The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.