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June 3rd, 2022
Wheel Watch 2022: Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photo produced on Sol 3492 June 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSNASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater has just made a routine check of its set of aluminum wheels.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale crater has just made a routine check of its set of aluminum wheels.
Of late, the robot has encountered tough terrain in its quest to scale Mount Sharp (apparently an apt name!).
Each of Curiosity’s six wheels is about 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide, milled out of solid aluminum.
Selfie taken by Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The wheels contact the Mars terrain with a skin that’s about half as thick as a U.S. dime, except at thicker treads.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) photos produced on Sol 3492, June 3, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The grousers are 19 zigzag-shaped treads that extend about a quarter inch (three-fourths of a centimeter) outward from the skin of each wheel. The grousers bear much of the rover’s weight and provide most of the traction and ability to traverse over uneven terrain.
Dust devils and wind gusts
Meanwhile, shift over to NASA’s Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater.
Credit: Claire Newman, et al.
A new paper — “The dynamic atmospheric and aeolian environment of Jezero crater, Mars” – has been published in the journal, Science Advances. Lead author is Claire Newman of Aeolis Research.
Perseverance rover’s novel environmental sensors and Jezero crater’s dusty environment are detailed, giving rise to a study of dust devils and wind gusts at the site.
“One such event covered 10 times more area than the largest dust devil, suggesting that dust devils and wind gusts could raise equal amounts of dust under nonstorm conditions,” the paper notes.
Why is Jezero Crater so active compared to most other landing sites?
Wind patterns in Jezero crater exhibit strong daytime winds largely controlled by convection cells superimposed on regional, Isidis basin–scale slope winds, and weaker nighttime winds, suggesting blocking of regional winds by local crater slopes, the paper adds.
To read the full paper, go to:
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.abn3783
Click to see dust devils in action! Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Posted in Space News
