The secret Python message the parachute had …

The US space agency NASA released Monday the first video of the arrival of the Perseverance rover on Mars, the mission that has captured the attention of the world.

However, the more attentive looked at the numbers on the parachute as it landed. Its layout was far from the typical squares or stripes of a parachute as it seemed to hide a message in its abstract design.

Internet users, in a collaborative effort, tried to encrypt it via platforms such as Twitter or Reddit. One of the first hypotheses that circulated established that the hidden message corresponds to the initials JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory or “Jet Propulsion Laboratory”).

However, one of the operations center’s camera engineers, Adam Nelessen, debunked this theory in a virtual space on Reddit, open to questions and answers about the mission.

Two hours later, another user ventured out and suggested that the message match three words: “Dare powerful things”, without explaining how he came to this conclusion, supposedly based on the Python programming system. This second theory was shared by many other hobbyists and was even approved by a computer science student, who deduced the same from it.

The meaning of the message

“Dare powerful things” (“Animate great things”, in Castilian), the hidden message that would have hidden the parachute, is the motto of the JPL and it has already been used for example with the Curiosity robot. It’s a phrase widely used by NASA professionals. Plus, it’s also a phrase they’ve used recently on social media.

Users are still waiting for confirmation from a member of NASA or an authority who can certify the latest deduction. So far Allen Chen, a JPL engineer and one of the protagonists of the Perseverance mission, has tweeted from his account: “‘Almost there ‘(‘ Cerca ‘)“on the last theory. Everything seems to indicate that Internet users have arrived at the correct answer.