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Holy Wheels, Sharp Rocks Force NASA’s Curiosity rover to Seek Smoother Pathway to Mount Sharp
Up close photomosaic view shows lengthy tear in rover Curiosity’s left front wheel caused by recent driving over sharp edged Martian rocks on the months long trek to Mount Sharp. Raw images taken by the MAHLI camera on Curiosity’s arm on Jan. 31, 2014 (Sol 529) were assembled to show some recent damage to several of its six wheels. Credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS / Marco Di Lorenzo / Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com
See below complete 6 wheel mosaic and further wheel mosaics for comparison
Continuing wheel damage from hoards of sharp edged Martian rocks are forcing engineers to seek a smoother pathway forward – potentially through a treacherous dune field – for NASA’s Curiosity rover on the jagged rock strewn road to Mount Sharp, her primary science destination.
Ever since rover engineers noticed holes and tears to the robots six aluminum wheels this past fall and winter 2013, the team has been photographing the wheels much more frequently and carefully assessing their condition. See our mosaics above and below.
Curiosity’s handlers are now considering diverting the 1 ton robot to an alternate path crossing into a dune field that entails traversing through much smoother Martian terrain to reach a highly desirable and nearby science destination called “KMS-9.”
Newly received images taken by the robot only on(…)
Read the rest of Holy Wheels, Sharp Rocks Force NASA’s Curiosity rover to Seek Smoother Pathway to Mount Sharp (360 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: Curiosity Rover, Gale crater, Mars, Mars Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Mount Sharp, NASA, Search for Life
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/108808/holy-wheels-sharp-rocks-force-nasas-curiosity-rover-to-seek-smoother-pathway-to-mount-sharp/
