Nasa reveals Easter eggs hidden on Mars perseverance rover

Details celebrate past missions and offer hope for future human achievements on Mars

Nasa has revealed that there are more hidden Easter eggs on the Mars perseverance rover in a perfectly timed announcement over the holiday weekend.

The six-wheeled Perseverance rover was landed on Mars on 18 February, and has begun traversing the landscape understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life.

The rover boasts several embellishments, including artwork, signs, and symbols on board thoughtfully chosen to reflect the significance of the machine.

And while it was thought that all of the Easter eggs onboard had been officially revealed, CBS News reported that two more unique details were divulged on Easter Sunday.

The first Easter egg is an individual 17-digit ID on the mission nameplate, reading "AONREHMELN1730055”.

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Nasa explained that PINs and VINs contain unique sets of letters and numbers that can be "decoded" to reveal details about the vehicle, comparing the concept to a fingerprint.

Perseverance’s code runs vertically along the right side of the mission nameplate in a string of 17 letters and numbers.

Letters in the code such as R signify that the primary vehicle type is Rover, while M signposts the location of the operation as Mars, and so on.

The agency stipulated that Mars Perseverance bears the first official Product Identification Number assigned to a spacecraft but that future spacecraft's could also be assigned their own PINs.

Two name plates mounted on the Mars Perseverance rover’s robotic arm. The rover’s name, “Perseverance,” is inscribed on the plate attached to its forearm, and the mission name, “Mars 2020,” is shown on its upper arm. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The second new Easter egg is a “Rover DNA Tattoo” inside the front left wheel of the rover which signifies the human “impulse for both exploration and innovation”.

The two drawings of the rover wheel tracks appear in different forms. One appears as if it’s printed in the Martian sand, highlighting the technical achievements required to traverse the unknown.

The other track, twisted into the shape of DNA, is a reminder that our space robots are of human origin, and reflects the innate human desire for exploration, Nasa says.

Two small drawings inscribed inside the front left wheel of the Mars Perseverance rover, pictured here before it was installed on the rover. One figure represents the tracks that the rover leaves as it drives on Mars. The other resembles that same pattern, twisted into the shape of DNA. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The new details are just two of many hidden by Nasa aboard Perseverance, as they have done with past rovers.

“Some designs celebrate past missions, while others offer hope for future human achievements on Mars,” Nasa says.

On Sunday, Nasa’s Perseverance rover dropped Ingenuity, the helicopter that will conduct the first controlled flight on another planet, onto the surface of Mars.

The helicopter fell four inches from the belly of Perseverance onto Mars and is now self sufficient.

At some point after 11 April, and when preparations are over, Ingenuity will take off for the first ever powered flight on any other planet.