--- title: "NASA Rover Finds Its Own Parachute in Martian Desert" description: "NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has made a fascinating discovery on Sol 401, 412 Earth days since landing on the Red Planet: the remains of its parachute." date: "2022-04-07" modified: "2022-04-07" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-rover-parachute-martian-desert" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA Rover Finds Its Own Parachute in Martian Desert ![NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has made a fascinating discovery on Sol 401, 412 Earth days since landing on the Red Planet: the remains of its parachute.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Spotted! NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has made a fascinating discovery, 412 Earth days since landing on the Red Planet. A keen-eyed netizen [spotted the discarded remains]() of the rover's parachute in [raw images]() that were taken on April 6, a timely reminder of how much ground NASA's rover has already covered. Although the object certainly appears to be the rover's parachute, NASA has yet to officially confirm the finding. https://twitter.com/65dbNoise/status/1511974707972780034 ## Sightseeing The parachute's remains and location [were picked up in images]() taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shortly after the six-wheeled rover touched down on the Martian surface back in February 2021. That location is just south of Perseverance's current location — just over half a mile, according to our estimations — which can be seen in NASA's handy [live map](). In other words, it's certainly feasible Perseverance's mast cam was able to pick out the jetsam more than a year after landing. The rover has been covering a lot of ground lately, first backtracking some of its earlier route, and then venturing beyond the location where its tiny Ingenuity Mars helicopter [achieved first flight]() back in April 2021. ## Delta Delta Perseverance is now beelining — a part of its journey colloquially known as the "[drive, drive, drive campaign]()" — to a rockier region that scientists believe is the delta of a dried up ancient lake bed it landed in the center of. While it's not exactly moving at a breakneck pace, it recently broke its daily distance covered record, [covering an impressive 800 feet](). It's a bit of a nostalgic moment: NASA [left a ton of Easter Eggs]() in the design of Perseverance's parachute, including a secret code that spelled out "Dare Mighty Things." And just over a year after landing, Perseverance has certainly done just that. **More on the parachute:** *[All the Easter Eggs NASA Engineers Left on the Mars Rover]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()