NASA's Perseverance has a little 'family portrait' Easter egg
In 1972, astronaut Charles Duke left a family portrait on the moon. Now, almost 50 years later, another NASA employee keeps its own family close.
The Perseverance rover made its monumental landing on Mars on Feb. 18 and it has already sent thousands of raw images back to Earth. Hidden in photos of the rover itself is a "bumper sticker" with icons of NASA's previous Mars rover missions, Space pointed out.
The rovers are lined up in chronological order: Sojourner, 1997; Spirit and Opportunity, 2004; Curiosity, 2012; Perseverance, 2021; and the Ingenuity helicopter, which rode along with Perseverance. NASA tweeted out a video detailing the "family portrait" plaque:
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Dr. Moogega Cooper, planetary protection engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also shared a photo of the plaque before it was affixed to Perseverance:
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In the short time that it's been on Mars, Perseverance has not only provided a 360-view of the red planet, but it's also recorded first-ever audio. Soon, Perseverance will start looking for ancient life. Already making its family proud!
Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.
