It’s had a tough journey, but it’s still trucking
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That’s incredible that a) it’s had that much damage and b) it’s still going!
Any estimates on lifespan left of the wheel/tyre?I read an article a while back that said JPL estimates critical wheel damage (14 out of the 19 treads snapping) to occur around 2034. That won’t be the end of the rover though, they have a plan. Once damage passes that point of no return, they’ll deliberately snap off the inner two thirds of the wheel and keep going on just the stronger outer third. https://spectrum.ieee.org/if-necessary-mars-rover-curiosity-could-rip-its-own-wheels-off-to-stay-mobile
The people working on this are truly incredible. I’m always extremely happy to read about these kinds of endeavors - so many people can do incredible things when given the time and funding.
I can barely plan what I’m gonna wear today, and these guys figured out how their wheels would fail, when their wheels would fail, and how they’re gonna fix them, 25 years in advance, and on a different planet.
Several years ago they did an engineering study that basically stated that when a specific number of cleats broke it had used up a percentage of its life. We’re past that stage now. They have since developed a scenario that will allow them to rip one half of the damaged wheel off, and still drive on the remaining half… All of the wheels are motorized, losing one wheel won’t stop the rover from traversing to it’s science waypoints
“Scientists approve of littering on another planet.”
To be fair the scientific ideal is to one day recover it to be placed in a museum.
It’s not garbage when it’s on a podium
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The metal is as thin as possible to carry a heavy rover. Then it’s just a matter of driving over rocks for 12 years now!
Wonder if it’s something they will consider changing in the designs of future rovers.
Maybe one small change would increase the weight a fraction, but allow for 5-10 more years of service.
Wonder if it’s something they will consider changing in the designs of future rovers. They already changed the design for the Perseverance rover, it has more grousers and a different pattern for those grousers. those redesigned wheels have been on Mars for 1279 sols (so far) and have zero damage.
Here’s a short video clip that goes over the changes https://youtu.be/ov_TXfWBf-4?t=68
Mars rocks are sharper and spikier than was expected.
Other than weight, why isn’t the wheel solid? Seems like a safer bet for a rover, and you don’t have passenger comfort to take into account.
why isn’t the wheel solid?
- Weight is an issue
- The wheels were the rover shock absorbers during landing (by the sky-crane back in 2012)
- Yes, no passenger comfort, but there is an amount of sensitive electronics and instruments to protect.
I have a hard time imagining it’s for any reason other than weight.
