Rough Roving: Curiosity's Wheel Damage 'Accelerated'

astroengine writes "Despite the assurances that the holes seen in Mars rover Curiosity's wheels were just a part of the mission, there seems to be increasing concern for the wheels' worsening condition after the one-ton robot rolled over some craggy terrain. In an upcoming drive, rover drivers will monitor the six wheels over some smooth terrain to assess their condition. "We want to take a full inventory of the condition of the wheels," said Jim Erickson, project manager for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 'Dents and holes were anticipated, but the amount of wear appears to have accelerated in the past month or so.' Although the wheels are designed to sustain significant damage without impairing driving activities, the monitoring of the situation is essential for future planning."

Re:Really?

[ShanghaiBill]

The thing I'm wondering about is why they didn't use something stronger than aluminum like titanium -- lighter too!

Density of titanium: 4.5
Density of aluminum: 2.7
So no, not lighter.

Re:Really?

[ArbitraryName]

Titanium has a strength to weight ratio of 288 kNm/kg and aluminum 214 kNm/kg. So yes, lighter for a given load and stronger for a given weight.

Re:They didn't pack a 3D printer?

[Jarik C-Bol]

By my calculations, 1000kg distributed across 6 wheels is 166kg on earth, which translates to 62kg on mars. What surprises me about the damage is that a copy of the rover was stress tested in death valley, so this level of wear and tear should have been anticipated, as the force on the wheels there was much higher. I wonder if another environmental factor, like mars' extreme cold, or increased radiation due to lack of magnetosphere is affecting the materials in the wheels.