NASA -- Curiosity, NASA's Mars rover comes with aluminum wheels that were especially designed to withstand tough conditions. However, it seems as if it's taking the beating while exploring the Red Planet. The rocky terrain of the landscape is putting the rover to a tough test. A new image of the wheel was taken on July 7 of this year and it looks like the rover tires could use a little repair.
The rover uses the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera attached to the end of its robotic arms to take a picture of its wheels on July 7. This is pretty much the rover's equivalent to self-checking that can be likened to humans checking the sole of their books after a long day of tireless hiking.
While the damage may look like the tires need to be replaced, the tires are actually looking pretty good and hanging in there.
"The wheels have developed some holes, but based on the testing they have done before its launch and early of 2014, the scientists have indicated that the rover is still fit to travel several kilometers despite the condition of these wheels," said Roger Craig Wiens, one of the team members of the Curiosity Rover. He gave this statement as part of the mission update.
The rover has traveled a total of 12.99 miles across the planet Mars since it was launched in 2012. The number of years, as well as the rocky terrain, has really shown how much the wheels have worked and the service that it could still serve. A team from NASA regularly checks on Curiosity to make sure that it is in perfect condition to move around the planet Mars.
They check on the wheels of the rover regularly. From the images that were taken early this year, a distinct difference can be seen on the wheels. The damages won't get better in time, but the team of Curiosity has devised several ways to help the rover get through the challenge of traveling around with damaged wheels. Included in the bigger plan to deal with the situation is to adjust the speed at which it travels on the Martian terrain. This is to help reduce the pressure that it is getting from the rocks as it traverses through the Martian landscape.
With the Opportunity now a defunct rover, Curiosity remains to be the only martian Rover that NASA has on the Red Planet. At least, this remains true until the new rover for Mars arrives in 2020.
