NASA - 5 Hidden Gems Are Riding Aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover

"These kinds of embellishments add artistic elements on missions that are otherwise solely dominated by science and technology, as well as lasting tributes to colleagues who have helped pave the way for humanity's exploration of space," said Jim Bell of Arizona State University, who has helped festoon almost all of NASA's Mars rovers, including Perseverance. Bell is the principal investigator of Perseverance's Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras that will capture gorgeous color panoramas of the Martian surface.

The 1909 penny aboard the Curiosity rover nods not just to the hundredth anniversary of the Lincoln penny, but also to how geologists often include a penny for scale when analyzing images of rock features. In fact, the object serves a similar purpose on Curiosity: Scientists use it as a calibration target - a kind of default they can use to check the settings of the Mars Hand Lens Imager camera. Because cameras frequently take images of these targets, they're the ideal places to add a motto or decorative symbols for viewing by the public.

As with Curiosity, Perseverance was built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads the mission. Much of the festooning aboard the rover serves a dual purpose. Here are some prime examples.

5 Hidden Gems Are Riding Aboard NASA's Perseverance Rover

Percy is now more than halfway to Mars and is scheduled to lands on 18 February 2021.

This one makes a lot of sense. It will be useful and interesting to see what happens to these different materials.

This one has a story about both Earth and Mars. It shows cyanobacteria, a fern and a dinosaur. It also shows a man and woman like on the Pioneer plaques and the Golden Record.

How could we send a probe to Mars without commemorating the new cold virus. Quite an ominous symbol (regardless of covid) to send to Mars, IMO.

Interesting. The last thing I would think about when seeing the occult looking coiled snake is covid...I sense you picked up on that too.

"Commemorating covid 19 and paying tribute to healthcare workers."

Errr...yea...ok nasa.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

That last one looks more of a warning to me.

Yeeeeeaaah. That last one is totally Nidhogg and Yggdrasil

Look at the positioning. It’s the dragon, “Malice Striker”.
Gnawing at the root of the World Tree as it is want to do...

Not a good sign at all. Rather prominent as we move into the Heavens.

Taking our beliefs and violence with us...