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Martian Dune Buggy Curiosity Adopts New Driving Mode to Save Wheels from Rough Rocks
Curiosity looks back eastward to ‘Dingo Gap’ sand dune inside Gale Crater. After crossing over the 3 foot (1 meter) tall dune on Sol 539, Feb. 9, 2014 the rover drove westward into the ‘Moonlight Valley’. The parallel rover wheel tracks are 9 feet (2.7 meters) apart. Assembled from Sol 539 colorized navcam raw images. Credit: NASA/JPL/ Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo
The team directing the epic trek of NASA’s Curiosity rover across the floor of Gale Crater has adopted new driving strategies and a new way forward in response to the unexpected wheel damage caused by driving over rough edged Red Planet rocks in recent months.
This week, engineers directed Curiosity to drive backwards for a lengthy distance over the Martian surface for the first time since landing.
Curiosity apparently passed the reverse driving test with flying colors and is now well on the way to the path ahead aiming for (…)
Read the rest of Martian Dune Buggy Curiosity Adopts New Driving Mode to Save Wheels from Rough Rocks (648 words)
© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: Curiosity Rover, Gale crater, Mars, Mars Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity Rover, Mount Sharp, NASA, Opportunity Rover, red planet, Search for Life
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/109552/martian-dune-buggy-curiosity-adopts-new-driving-mode-to-save-wheels-from-rough-rocks/
