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NASA's Curiosity rover will have been on Mars for five years come this summer, and it'south held upwardly surprisingly well. The rover's mission has been extended essentially indefinitely. Every bit long as Curiosity can practise science, NASA volition make use of it. The harsh Martian terrain has not been kind to the rover's wheels, though. NASA reports that i of Curiosity'southward wheels has suffered ii breaks that bespeak it could be the first of the rover's vi to fail.

Marvel'southward wheels are made from a single piece of machined aluminum. The master rim is 0.75-inches thick, and NASA expected them to deform somewhat. Damage to the bike started accumulating in 2013 when the rover passed through a region littered with small-scale abrupt rocks perfect for puncturing the aluminum. The treads (or "grousers") are used to add together strength to the wheel and help pull the rover along. However, the breakages reported by NASA involve these essential components.

The paradigm above from March 19th shows impairment to 2 grousers on the middle left wheel. You lot tin run into i of the grousers only partially attached at the top of the wheel. The holes expect bad, only the bike will continue to part just fine with quite a few of them. However, losing more than a few grousers will degrade the wheel's ability to propel the rover forward. The grousers are besides essential for supporting the rover's weight.

In testing here on Earth, NASA establish that the loss of three grousers indicated a cycle was at most 60% of its useful life. And so, one more loss and this item bike will be in that land. In that location are 19 grousers in total per wheel. NASA regularly checks for these breaks using the rover's mastcam.

20140818_wheel-diagram

The good news is that Curiosity has already driven more than than 60 percent of the distance needed to survey all the geological layers of Mount Sharp. In fact, Curiosity is about to cross the x-mile marking (almost 16 kilometers) on Mars. That'southward the farthest any rover has traveled on the Red Planet. Marvel's operators take used enhanced mapping methods to avoid the most damaging terrain as the rover climbs ever higher on Mount Sharp.

Marvel has provided a wealth of data on Martian geology that has helped scientists sympathise what Mars is really like, every bit well every bit reconstruct what the planet was like billions of years ago. It looks a trivial less for wearable, simply Marvel still a few years alee of it to get some science washed.