The parachute that assisted NASA’s Perseverance rover land on Mars last week unfurled a random pattern of colors. But there is more to the story:NASA officials later said it contained a hidden message written in binary computer code.
Sleuths all over the web cracked the message after a few hours.The red and white pattern spelled out “Dare Mighty Things” in concentric rings. The saying is the Perseverance team’s motto, and it is also emblazoned on the walls of Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the mission team’s Southern California headquarters.
“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” said Allen Chen, landing lead for Perseverance. Perseverance’s chief engineer,Adam Steltzner, confirmed the message late Monday night in a tweet.
