faced with bitter losses such as Opportunity and Vikram 2 , the human race will always persevere into the future .” — Alex Mather
Alex ’ s rover name and essay were chosen from among 28,000 entries . A panel of judges whittled the number down ; the finalists ’ entries were posted to NASA . gov and the public was invited to review and vote for their favorite . The winning name was announced in February of 2020 .
At that time , no one knew , not Alex , nor anyone voting , not even the brilliant NASA scientists and engineers , just how critical perseverance would become for all of us as we weather the storm of a global pandemic .
We persevere as we steadfastly wear our masks , even playing sports , even on playdates . As we keep our social circles tight , even though we desperately miss our friends and family . As we log in to Zoom . As we mourn lost opportunities : Plays and Musicals we do a version of — thanks to creative and hardworking teachers — but without the thrill of a live audience . Sports seasons you can ’ t ever get back . The eighth graders ’ trip to Italy . Of course , many are also mourning the lives of loved ones lost . WE PERSEVERE .
The landing of the Perseverance rover was live streamed , and many gorgeous images have been shared , including this iconic image ( see image above , right ), taken by the rover ’ s own upward pointing camera of its enormous orange and white parachute , as it glided down to Mars ’ Jezero crater .
Allen Chen , a NASA engineer , dropped a hint as he narrated a livestreamed video of the landing , that a coded message was visible to those who would look for it . This set off an international frenzy of collaborative code breaking . A college computer science student in Paris and his dad ( in London ) were the first to share the decoded message . And NASA confirmed : An engineer named Ian Clark had designed Perseverance ’ s parachute to include words - represented in binary code by alternating panels of orange and white fabric . The words are “ DARE MIGHTY THINGS ” which is a line from a speech given by Teddy Roosevelt in 1899 . I ’ ll read a short quote from that speech :
“ Far better it is to dare mighty things , to win glorious triumphs , even though checkered by failure , than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much , because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat .”
If there is going to be
Mars Rover ready to land
ANY silver lining to this tragic Covid ordeal , let it be this :
Let us make it a habit to persevere together , though checkered by failure : Don ’ t curl up and opt out , although the temptation is strong . Instead , try to live and learn and be your best self . We ’ ll make mistakes and we ’ ll keep going . We ’ ll keep asking “ Can you hear me ?” on Zoom calls . We may attach the wrong doc to the Google Classroom assignment . You may need a reminder to close tabs and stay on task when working on your computer . Or a reminder that your hoodie is not part of the dress code . Maybe you ’ ll return from a months-long stint of virtual at-home learning , only to have your entire cohort go on quarantine the SAME DAY !
We ’ ll feel sad about what we ’ ve lost , but we ’ ll also try to remain present in the moment , thankful for what we HAVE . We ’ ll keep our eyes and ears open for “ glorious triumphs ” large and small : the beauty of the birds ’ songs , which
Ms . Iannicelli spoke about in Chapel yesterday , or the wonder of a call to action , woven as binary code , into a
Perseverance Rover parachute , on Mars . M
Nora Sundar is Director of Curriculum Integration and Science Chair at Saint David ’ s School .
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