Not much interesting has happened in my lab this December 2025. Nevertheless I want to document a curious find from yesterday. I was browsing NASA account on X, saw a post about Perseverance rover, followed the comments and stumbled upon a collection of pictures returned from Mars. There are stunning views of the red planet, plus some more "nerdy" shots of the rover itself. I think these shots are used to check the hardware health, like this:
What's so interesting? The picture shows a thick cable going to a connector. My first thought went to the mechanical reliability of connector: think of all the forces it had to withstand during launch and landing (vibrations, temperature excursions) and nobody can go up there to re-seat it if it gets loose. I am sure space exploration has taught engineers how to design proper connectors and I would not mind having a look at how it is made. I cannot keep a PL-259 tight even if it sits in the shack!
Then I looked at the assembly of two cables and how they are kept together. That looks familiar: a small rope and handmade knots! Look at the zoomed-in detail:
Conclusion. Knots ARE rocket science! :)
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Pictures source: https://areo.info/mars20/ecams/1711/tn/SIF_1711_0818839465_316EBY_N0830000SRLC07078_0000LMJ_calib01_areo.info.jpg.html .
