Rugged Mars has taken big bites out of the Curiosity rover's wheels (photos)

[Judi Lynn]

By Mike Wall published about 17 hours ago

But don't worry; Curiosity should be able to keep roving for a while yet.


NASA's Curiosity rover has left plenty of marks on Mars over the past nine-plus years, and the Red Planet is returning the favor.

The rugged landscape inside Mars' Gale Crater has taken some substantial bites out of Curiosity's six aluminum wheels, as CNET recently pointed out. The damage looks dramatic, but don't panic; Curiosity should be able to keep trundling along for a while yet.

"The current predicted odometry remaining is expected to be sufficient to support Curiosity throughout the remainder of the mission," Andrew Good, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages Curiosity's mission, told Space.com via email.

The gouges and gashes on the rover's wheels "always look nastier than they are," Good added.

The car-sized Curiosity landed on Gale's floor in August 2012, on a mission to determine if the area could ever have supported microbial life. The robot soon answered that question, finding that Gale hosted a potentially habitable lake-and-stream system in the ancient past that likely persisted for millions of years at a time.

More:
https://www.space.com/nasa-mars-rover-curiosity-wheel-damage-photos

[exboyfil]

1. Everything on Mars is designed to kill you

It is difficult to even dig holes on the surface. I am 58, and I doubt I will see a manned Mars landing in my lifetime. I hope that I am wrong.

[Sherman A1]

2. Always enjoy your posts

Thank You.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. Why don't they just call AAA?

... ....Maybe AAA should consider launching a space tow truck and rescue van....

I followed Spirit and Opportunity for a long time as if they were my children but haven't been following later rovers nearly as much. As a retired "old-fashioned' engineer, these things still fascinate me.

Let's hope like most of the others, Curiosity far exceeds its original mission which helps keep anti-science fools at bay.

Thanks for posting this, Judi Lynn.......