Name: 'Dare mighty things': hidden message found on Nasa Mars rover parachute
Brand: theguardian.com
SKU: theguardian-com-923
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

'Dare mighty things': hidden message found on Nasa Mars rover parachute

preview

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldSocial media users say message is encoded in red-and-white pattern on parachuteLast modified on Tue 23 Feb 2021 16.07 ESTInternet sleuths claim to have decoded a hidden message displayed on the parachute that helped Nasa’s Perseverance Rover land safely on last week. They claim that the phrase “Dare mighty things” – used as a motto by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – was encoded on the parachute using a pattern representing letters as binary computer code. and social media posters on Twitter noticed that the red-and-white pattern on the parachute looked deliberate, and arrived at the result by using the red to represent the figure one, and the white to represent zero.Each of the concentric rings in the parachute’s pattern represents one of the words. The zeroes and ones need to be split up into chunks of 10 characters, and from that, adding 64 gives you the computer ASCII code representing a letter. For example, seven white stripes, a red stripe and then two more white stripes represents 0000000100, the binary for four. Adding 64 to that gives 68, the code for the letter D.The pattern on the outer-edge of the parachute is additionally believed to represent 34°11’58” N 118°10’31” W, the geolocation code for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which carried out much of the work on Perseverance.The origins of the phrase are an 1899 speech by Theodore Roosevelt, in which : “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 challenge had been set by itself. While the pattern has a scientific purpose – it allows mission control to see the angle the parachute has deployed at and whether it has got twisted – during a live stream discussing the landing, one Nasa commentator said: “Sometimes we leave messages in our work for others to find. So we invite you all to give it a shot and show your work.”Nasa has previously used the phrase in association with its Mars missions. In 2013 it issued a trailer video of the Curiosity rover mission entitled . The current mission has also used the phrase in tweets marking the successful landing.The hi-tech fabric making up the parachute was created in Devon, emphasising the international nature of the effort to get Perseverance to the red planet. of Tiverton said it was “very, very proud of the achievement”, with the director of the company’s woven fabric department, Peter Hill, saying it represented 15 years’ work.The company’s technical director, Richard Crane, : “It is an incredibly emotional moment, when you know that millions of people around the world are holding their breath, waiting for news of a successful touchdown, and that part of that success is down to the efforts of our fantastic team here in Tiverton.”This isn’t the only hidden message carried on the Perseverance Rover. Among there are special microchips carrying 10.9 million names and 155 essays sent to the space agency as part of competitions to send names to Mars or to name the rover itself.The vehicle also carries a reference to the Covid pandemic, which has affected the preparations and running of the mission here on Earth. An aluminium plate on the rover carries an image of the Rod of Asclepius, the ancient Greek symbol for healing and medicine, supporting the Earth, in honour of the work of frontline medical workers during the pandemic.

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldSocial media users say message is encoded in red-and-white pattern on parachuteLast modified on Tue 23 Feb 2021 16.07 ESTInternet sleuths claim to have decoded a hidden message displayed on the parachute that helped Nasa’s Perseverance Rover land safely on last week. They claim that the phrase “Dare mighty things” – used as a motto by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – was encoded on the parachute using a pattern representing letters as binary computer code. and social media posters on Twitter noticed that the...

public

Joe Biden’s choice for secretary of state marks a sharp break with the Trump administration. The former deputy secretary of state is a committed internationalist, who spent some of his childhood in Paris and is fluent in French. He views US engagement with the world, and particularly Europe, as vital. He was a member of Bill Clinton’s White House staff in the 1990s and served under President Barack Obama. In 2019 he expressed strong opinions about Brexit, saying: “This is not just the dog that caught the car, this is the dog that caught the car and the car goes into reverse and runs over the dog. It’s a total mess.”  Janet Yellen – treasury secretary  Janet Yellen Janet Yellen. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP The 74-year-old economist was the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve, and looks set to achieve another first: becoming the country’s first female treasury secretary. Professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, a former assistant professor at Harvard and a lecturer at the London School of Economics, Yellen is an expert in labour markets and has highlighted the economic impact of uneven growth in the jobs market. Donald Trump declined to reappoint her after his election, making her the first central bank chief not to serve two terms since the Carter administration.  Alejandro Mayorkas – secretary of homeland security  Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Mayorkas. Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters Described by the former Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro as “a historic and experienced choice to lead an agency in desperate need of reform”, the Cuban-American lawyer served as the deputy secretary of homeland security for nearly three years under Obama. Formerly Obama’s director of US citizenship and immigration services, if confirmed, the 61-year-old would be the first Latino and the first immigrant to lead the department.  Linda Thomas-Greenfield – US ambassador to the United Nations  Linda Thomas-Greenfield Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA The Louisianian was formerly assistant secretary of state for African affairs under the Obama and Trump administrations. She was also the US ambassador to Liberia under George W Bush and Obama. Of her appointment, Thomas-Greenfield, 68, has said: “My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place. I’ve carried that lesson with me throughout my career in foreign service and, if confirmed, will do the same as ambassador to the United Nations.”  John Kerry – special presidential envoy for climate  John Kerry John Kerry. Photograph: Adam Berry/Getty Perhaps the best known face internationally, Kerry will take the lead on combating the climate crisis. The 76-year-old lost the 2004 US election to George W Bush, before going on to become secretary of state from 2013-17 under Obama.  Avril Haines – director of national intelligence  Avril Haines Avril Haines. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock The New York-born lawyer was previously deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the first woman to hold that position. She worked closely with Biden from 2007-08 in her role as deputy chief counsel for the Senate Democrats. Haines, 51, was also the first female deputy national security adviser and, if confirmed, will become the first woman to be the director of national intelligence.  Jake Sullivan – national security adviser  Jake Sullivan Jake Sullivan. Photograph: Washington Post/Getty Sullivan was the national security adviser to Biden when he was vice-president and served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state. Since 2014, Sullivan, 43, has been teaching at Yale law school.

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-belam

Martin Belam

TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

'Dare mighty things': hidden message found on Nasa Mars rover parachute

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS