NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover still having problems with the red planet rocks
NASA’s Curiosity rover is equipped with tough aluminum wheels, but they’re not getting off easy on Mars. The red planet’s rocky landscape continues to take a toll on the rover, as new images of wheel damage show.
The rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of its robotic arm to take a close look at its wheels on July 7.
The wheels are dented and pockmarked from traversing rough ground. What’s most concerning are the many cracks and outright holes visible across the treads.
“Although the wheels have developed some holes, the testing and modeling that have been done since early 2014 indicate that Curiosity can still travel a number of kilometers on these wheels,” Curiosity team member Roger Craig Wiens wrote in a mission update.