The Curiosity begins to show signs of wear. Two years after he landed on Mars, the NASA robot has holes and tears in the tires. Scientists do not hide some concern. The mission of Curisosity has no end date, but now the end could come before desired.
With six wheels, Curiosity is remotely controlled from Earth. Some days, NASA parked the vehicle and photographed the damage to tires to analyze. The results showed three types of problems: small and narrow holes, big holes in a circle and rips the direction of movement of the wheel. Each fault has a different origin and reveal details of the Martian soil.
So scientists believe that small and narrow bores occur in areas where there are small and sharp stones. The large holes occur when rocks where the wheel passes are higher. In the third case, a tear in the tire arises from sharp rocks that result from wind erosion on Mars and knives that are similar and have the same effect as opener tearing the tire when it moves.
Curisosity tires are made of aluminum and have a thickness of 0.75 mm. If each wheel had one more millimeters, the entire mass of the robot increased 10 pounds. The fine surface was developed to give and bend as needed. When the robot passes through a very rocky surface, it does so continuously, until, both yield and return to original shape, ends up suffering an injury.
Now what? Curiosity now, that’s a million miles away from Earth, is to continue the mission with the damage it has. NASA scientists believe that the robot will endure. The most damaged wheel is one that is in the middle, and is less exposed to the terrain, and also is not used to set the direction of the vehicle.
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