Mars Rover's Parachute Has a Secret Code and the Internet Just Solved It

It was a historic moment when Perseverance landed on the Red Planet. But other than that, people all noticed the hidden code in the Mars rover's parachute, which they solved in just six hours after NASA scientists teased its existence on Monday, February 22.

In a Twitter post, Perseverance's chief engineer Adam Steltzner revealed that the red and white stripes that radiate from the parachute's center in a seemingly random pattern are written in a binary computer code.

But what does it mean?

Cracking the Hidden Code in the Mars Rover's Parachute

According to Live Science, the hidden code that NASA scientists added to the Mars Rover's parachute did not escape the attention of internet sleuths. For many, the patterns would have been ordinary, but Steltzner's confirmation of the code's existence made the internet curious, so the code-cracking began.

Lead systems engineer for Perseverance's entry, descent, and landing, Allen Chen challenged the public to uncover the secret message.

Each red and white stripes on the Mars rover's parachute represents a letter written in a binary computer code. When it is read in clockwise order from the innermost ring of the parachute to the outermost part, the coded stripes spell the message: "Dare mighty things."

It is the same message written across the wall of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) headquarters in Pasadena, California. JPL has been using this motto for many years.

Incredibly, the public has solved the hidden code's message in just six hours after the challenge was presented. "It looks like the internet has cracked the code in something like 6 hours! Oh internet is there anything you can't do?" Steltzner said.

Additionally, the outermost ring of the Mars rover's parachute contains a set of coordinates, which is the location of JPL's California headquarters: 34°11'58" N by 118°10'31" W.

Hidden Messages in Mars Rovers

If one would look closely at one of the thousands of images that NASA released from the Perseverance rover, a tiny family portrait of past Mars rovers could be seen. Included in the markings are the Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter.

But this is not the first time that JPL engineers have hidden codes in the rovers, Space.com reported.

There are tiny holes in the hollow, aluminum wheels of the Curiosity rover that serves an important purpose that allows Martian pebbles to fall through instead of getting stuck in the wheels. But these holes represent "JPL" in Morse code. That means every time the Curiosity rover roams the terrain of Mars it imprints "JPL" in the Martian surface.

Chen told The Verge that the hidden message in the Mars rover's parachute, "Dare Mighty Things," is just one of the hidden codes in the newest Martian rover. Perseverance engineers might have put more hidden messages on the rover that might never become known even by him.

"People can't resist putting a little personal touch in their work," Chen said. "But the vast majority of these will never be known - even by me," Chen said.

Check out more news and information on Perseverance Rover and Mars on Science Times.