Full Resolution Mark Showalter was head of the Hazards Team, which was responsible for identifying any moons, rings, or dust that could be along our trajectory in space as we passed Arrokoth. We spent two years prepping for the encounter, and a month of long days at the lab analyzing data as it came down from the spacecraft. One of the possible threats to the spacecraft were a new type of ring discovered theoretically by team member Doug Hamilton, called a 'Sunflower Ring.' Another one was called a 'Tuna Can Ring.'
Here, having successfully retired all hazard risk both theoretically and and experimentally, Mark slays the symbolic sunflower and with it, the sunflower's dreams of overpowering our mighty spacecraft wither away.
