Rugged Martian Terrain Chewing Up Curiosity Rover's Wheels

https://www.space.com/24049-mars-rover-curiosity-wheel-wear.html

Lots of daylight where there isn't supposed to be any, especially in the lower left of the full size view where you can see a very large, jagged puncture just above the Morse Code "L" cutout (which leaves "JPL" impressions in Morse Code when driving over dust or sand). Looks bad, but they're not concerned too much about it. For long trips, they may just pick routes with fewer rocks.

They look like they will last plenty long.

I'm not worried, I'm sure there is a Les Schwab dealer near by. lol

Latest info. Apparently, not such an inconsequential problem. We sure as heck want Curiosity to last at least as long as Opportunity and ten years of rolling is a lot of rolling:

https://www.space.com/24491-mars-rover-curiosity-wheel-damage.html

Excerpt:

"Curiosity's handlers are driving the 1-ton rover more cautiously now and are checking the condition of its wheels frequently, NASA officials said.

Engineers at JPL are also testing out techniques that may help mitigate Curiosity's wheel wear, including driving the rover backward and engaging only four of its six wheels at any one time."

Just have it stop by the nearest “Pep Boys” and Manny, Moe and Jack will fix it in a jiffy.

How pathetic would be should one of the most triumphant examples of technological achievement be undone by something as prosaic as a FLAT TIRE?

Rough Road Ahead: Rocky Mars Terrain Challenges Curiosity Rover

https://www.space.com/26643-mars-rover-curiosity-wheel-damage.html

Excerpt:

"We did an inventory of the wheels," Grotzinger said, "and here’s the image that set us on into a constructed panic."

The mosaic showed wheels that had been dented, punctured and even torn by the rocks below. "To figure out what to do… you take a picture of a metal wheel," he added, "and when you see the planet on the other side [i.e. through a large hole in the wheel], unless it says 'JPL,' it's a problem."

Curiosity cant go as long as Spirit or Opportunity because its power source wont allow it to. If I remember, Curiosity is only supposed to go a few years, not a decade.

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Spirit and Opportunity were never meant to go that long either (About 92 Earth days actually.) In fact Opportunity is over 10 years past it's lifespan IIRC.

The difference is that they run on solar pkwer. Their power source wasnt as much of a concern but the durability was. Curioaity runs on nuclear power. That will run out no matter what.

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Winston said:

Rough Road Ahead: Rocky Mars Terrain Challenges Curiosity Rover

https://www.space.com/26643-mars-rover-curiosity-wheel-damage.html

Excerpt:

"We did an inventory of the wheels," Grotzinger said, "and here’s the image that set us on into a constructed panic."

The mosaic showed wheels that had been dented, punctured and even torn by the rocks below. "To figure out what to do… you take a picture of a metal wheel," he added, "and when you see the planet on the other side [i.e. through a large hole in the wheel], unless it says 'JPL,' it's a problem."

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They should have contracted the Mennonites... they're EXPERTS on metal wheels... LOL

Later! OL JR

TheSamurai said:

The difference is that they run on solar pkwer. Their power source wasnt as much of a concern but the durability was. Curioaity runs on nuclear power. That will run out no matter what.

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Click to expand...

The Voyager's RTG's are still providing power to their respective spacecraft nearly 37 years after launch. Without knowing anything about these specific RTG's, I would expect that they would last at least half that long.

NAR29996 said:

The Voyager's RTG's are still providing power to their respective spacecraft nearly 37 years after launch. Without knowing anything about these specific RTG's, I would expect that they would last at least half that long.

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But what LEVEL of power... The power demands for Voyager is pretty low, especially now that the camera platform is no longer usable. Basically all the thing has to do is radio home, and maybe operate a few remaining radiation detectors and stuff...

That's a lot different than having enough power to move a nearly 1 ton vehicle across a planetary surface covered with rough terrain...

Later! OL JR

110 watts at landing and 105 watts one year after landing. The RTG's don't power the rover directly. The battery powers the rover, and the RTG's recharge the battery. Of course, the limiting factor on the power will be the degradation of the thermocouple.

Of course.


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The minimum lifetime of the MSL RTG is 14 years. It could go longer. https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/technology/technologiesofbroadbenefit/power/

Somewhat related to this thread. Or just watch for entertainment value. Go to 9:25 when they discuss the power source.

[video=youtube;WBQn0nD27nc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBQn0nD27nc[/video]

DeeRoc29 said:

Somewhat related to this thread. Or just watch for entertainment value. Go to 9:25 when they discuss the power source.

[video=youtube;WBQn0nD27nc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBQn0nD27nc[/video]

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I've been told I look like Jim Gaffigan. I don't really take it as a compliment.

NAR29996 said:

110 watts at landing and 105 watts one year after landing. The RTG's don't power the rover directly. The battery powers the rover, and the RTG's recharge the battery. Of course, the limiting factor on the power will be the degradation of the thermocouple.

Click to expand...

If that's true then it could last significantly longer than what I understood it was going to do. That would be awesome.

Even with an extended life, we need to send humans. While I love all the robotic missions, they can't replace human exploration. That's another disucssion for another topic though.

TheSamurai said:

If that's true then it could last significantly longer than what I understood it was going to do. That would be awesome.

Even with an extended life, we need to send humans. While I love all the robotic missions, they can't replace human exploration. That's another disucssion for another topic though.

Click to expand...

Not likely in our lifetimes... and by the time we are capable of sending a human mission, there won't be much need to. We can just send the equivalent of C-3PO, R2-D2, and a Terminator all rolled into one, a robot capable of performing the mission basically autonomously with periodic instructions from Earth, with artificial intelligence.

Later! OL JR

What happened to Spirit? I can't recall at the moment

gerbs4me said:

What happened to Spirit? I can't recall at the moment

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It lost its spirit

If I remember its mission ended in 2011 with NASA not being able to contact it.

Looks like NASA should have went to either BF Goodrich or Mickey Thompson for some "Baja tested" tires.

gerbs4me said:

What happened to Spirit? I can't recall at the moment

Click to expand...

Wheel locked up, had to drive backwards and drag the locked wheel (which was doable; they put navigation cameras on both ends of the rover) and they had to park the rovers on south-facing inclines for the winter to keep enough solar power coming into them so they could stay warm and "hibernate" through the winter... IIRC the rover got stuck and they couldn't get it on an incline (remember that since Mars is further from the Sun, it only gets about HALF the intensity of sunlight on the surface as Earth does-- therefore solar panels can only put out about HALF as much power as they would on Earth... at one point one of the rovers was "near death" due to dust buildup covering the solar panels, but a chance encounter with a Martian dust devil "blew them clean" and raised the power generation level back up near normal levels). With the rover unable to get on a south-facing slope due to being stuck, it couldn't generate enough warmth inside itself to keep the electronics from going into the deep freeze (well over a hundred below zero on winter nights). The electronics froze up and when they tried to revive it in the Martian spring, they couldn't make contact with it.

As I remember anyway... Later! OL JR

Oh ok, now I remember... Thanks for refreshing my memory.