Comments on: Growing damage to the wheels of the Curiosity Mars rover https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/growing-damage-to-the-wheels-of-the-curiosity-mars-rover/ Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:44:58 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Richard M https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/growing-damage-to-the-wheels-of-the-curiosity-mars-rover/#comment-1630072 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:44:58 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=122534#comment-1630072 “Coming up on 14 years isn’t too shabby.”

Yeah. NASA has definitely gotten its money’s worth out of Curiosity.

And the lessons learned from Curiosity’s experience informed design changes to the wheels on Perseverance, which has fared better as a result.

]]> By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/growing-damage-to-the-wheels-of-the-curiosity-mars-rover/#comment-1630063 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 04:32:20 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=122534#comment-1630063 Mark Sizer listed some of the expected failures, and that’s probably why they have not yet failed; someone thought about them. Very knowledgeable people are experts in narrow fields, and are guided by experience. No one had walked the ground, so no one had a granular terrain picture. You places your bets and takes your chances. Coming up on 14 years isn’t too shabby.

]]> By: Mark Sizer https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/growing-damage-to-the-wheels-of-the-curiosity-mars-rover/#comment-1630050 Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:19:11 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=122534#comment-1630050 Out of all the things that could go wrong. No bearings clogged by dust. No communication failures. No radiation damaged chips. Wheels. On the bright side, it’s well (well, well) past its expected lifetime.

_Something_ is always going to be the weakest link. It’s interesting how often people, even very knowledgeable people, guess wrong.

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