The accumulating dents and dings on Curiosity’s wheels.
The accumulating dents and dings on Curiosity’s wheels.
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The accumulating dents and dings on Curiosity’s wheels.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This is interesting to me because of the wheel material and conditions. I’ve worked with .030″ aluminum in various alloys for many years and find the dents and punctures a bit strange. They only note that the aluminum is “aircraft” grade – which means nothing – but don’t specify the alloy, and that’s important. I can only visualize denting the skin of the wheel if the full weight on it was born upon a very small sharp, hard pointed/jagged material. Actually puncturing/fracturing/tearing the skin would be more likely with the hard/brittle alloys.
Does anyone know the total weight on the left front wheel? (moon weight)
I couldn’t readily find c.g. information on the rover, but because all wheels are driven, and the claimed ‘tip over’ angle is 50 degrees in any direction, it’s reasonable to assume that the vehicle weight is more-or-less evenly distributed among the six wheels. This would make any given wheel’s share of the load about 56 kg on Mars. (Based on an Earth mass of 899 kg and comparing Mars’ gravity of 3.7 m/s/s/ to Earth’s 9.8 m/s/s).
Thanks for doing what I should have done in the first place – looking up to Earth weight of the entire vehicle. I wasn’t aware it was nearly a ton. With ~125lbs. bearing down on each wheel I can imagine the penetration occurring if a hard, raised point of ~1/8″ is rolled over with most .030″ alloys.