NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has been exploring the Red Planet for over 16 months now and scientists say its wheels have sustained more damage that earlier estimated.
As part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL), the car-sized Curiosity rover was launched from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, November 26, 2011, and it successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on Monday, August 6, 2012.
According to NASA, the rough terrain on Mars has caused the aluminum wheels of the rover to wear and tear more than what scientists had expected. On December 20, NASA released an image of one of the six wheels taken by Curiosity's robotic arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), which shows marks of damages.
"We want to take a full inventory of the condition of the wheels," said Jim Erickson, Curiosity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California in a statement.
"Dents and holes were anticipated, but the amount of wear appears to have accelerated in the past month or so," Erickson added. "It appears to be correlated with driving over rougher terrain. The wheels can sustain significant damage without impairing the rover's ability to drive. However, we would like to understand the impact that this terrain type has on the wheels, to help with planning future drives."
NASA also said that Curiosity had recently navigated through an area that has many sharp protruding from the ground and the officials say that future destinations for the rover may be charted over comparatively smoother ground to reduce the amount of damage caused to wheels.
The image of the rover's wheel, which are made of aircraft-grade aluminum material, shows various scratches, dents and punctures, and may raise concerns over its future drive on the planet.
In early November this year, the Curiosity rover had sent scientists into a tizzy after it went into safe mode following a software update it received from Earth. At that time, the mission's ground team was able to identify and fix the problem swiftly. However, it may be more difficult for scientists to fix any physical problem, which may include changing the wheel of the rover.
The key objectives of the Curiosity rover are to collect data of the geology and climate on Mars and to investigate if the selected field site inside the Gale Crater has ever contained environmental conditions, which are favorable for microbial life. The rover will also assess the role of water on the planet and planetary habitability studies that may be necessary for any future exploration of Mars.
