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Rough Roving: Curiosity's Wheels Show Damage

Posted by Soulskill on from the pit-stop-unlikely dept.

astroengine writes "In a recent batch of images beamed back to Earth from Mars rover Curiosity's MAHLI camera, obvious signs of wear and tear could be seen in the 'skin' of the robot's wheels. Considering Curiosity is only 281 sols (Mars days) into its mission and roved less than a kilometer after landing, surely this doesn't bode well? Fortunately, there's good news. 'The wear in the wheels is expected,' Matt Heverly, lead rover driver for the MSL mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told Discovery News. 'We will continue to characterize the wheels both on Mars and in the Marsyard, but we don't expect the wear to impact our ability to get to Mt. Sharp.'"

2 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Spirit and Opportunity set unrealistic expectation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since those 2 rovers outlasted their expected mission life by a factor of 20ish, everyone now expects every science mission to do similar. When they last for the amount of time they were engineered for people are disappointed. That's the danger in overachieving and the reason people feel compelled to use their full budget each year - if they're frugal for a year people expect that they'll be able to do the same every year and cut the budget. Some aspects of human nature stink.

  2. Mass and Weight are different by Excelcia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the article:

    “We have the same wheels on our Scarecrow test rover, which weighs the same on Earth as Curiosity weighs on Mars,” Heverly added. “We have driven Scarecrow about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in the Marsyard over rocks and slopes much harsher than we expect for Curiosity. There are some dents and holes in these wheels, but the rover is still performing well.”

    This sounds an idea from the same people that brought us the Mars Climate Orbiter crater.

    The problem with this is that Curiosity weighs 342kg but masses 900kg. Scarecrow weighs and masses 342kg. Whatever Curiosity weighs, it hitting a rock at 1m/s is still 900 newtons of force. Scarecrow hitting a rock at 1m/s is 342 newtons. The fact it drove 12km and has serviceable wheels does not make me feel better.