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this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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You're saying we've polluted Mars with microplastics too!?
No, the wheels are made of aluminum, not plastic
Oh, Cool!
They've lasted quite well.
But it's apparently one of the things the designers want to do better with future rovers.
The design was meant to be light-weight while providing good traction on the martian surface, but it has turned out more fragile than they'd hoped. All six wheels on Curiosity are quite damaged.
The wheels on Perseverance are still aluminium, but instead of the zig-zag tread, the large gaps of flat metal that have been getting punctured, were done away with. The wheels on Percy instead have a dense pattern of wavy tread.
you answered my question before I could even ask, thanks for sharing!
You're welcome! Percy and Curiosity are magnificent machines! There's a ton of fantastic content out there about their design and engineering. Smarter Every Day and Real Engineering both have videos about them.
Most people also don't realize how absolutely HUGE they are, until they see a person stand next to one of them on video or in a picture.
I had the opportunity once to see Curiosity modeled in a VR environment as if you were standing on Mars next to it and I remember how very surprised I was at how big it was.
As a fun side note now that you've jogged my memory. That same demo also had a model of the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. For whatever reason it was sized so that the ~~asteroid~~ comet was about the size of a cat and I will never forgot watching that itty bitty little satellite orbit around that odd shaped ~~asteroid~~ comet in front of me.
https://www.aam-us.org/2016/02/23/experiments-in-virtual-reality-at-the-museum-of-flight/
Fascinating! Thank you for including a picture of the new design, using the ribs to reinforce the surface should improve things a lot with minimal material added.
Not just Mars, but yes. Biodegradability isn't even a factor since there's no biosphere to speak of, which also raises philosophical questions like: "what is pollution, exactly?"
What will really bake your noodle is to imagine a future where we settle the Moon and Mars. Do old space program artifacts become monuments and parks (debris and all), or are they trash to be removed from the environment?
Knowing humans, yes! I think they will. Probably not the bits that fall off, they'll most likely be placed in the visitors centre but given how sentimental we are as a species I can absolutely see us one day touring the sea of tranquility space reservation.
Removed, obviously. Gotta put that new STARbucks somewhere
It's okay, Mars is low on fossil fuels and could use some global warming, so the Martians are already burning it as we speak.