Simon St.Laurent
Daniel PomarèdeCuriosity: 4844th day of the mission
Image captured 6 hours ago.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
#Mars #Curiosity #rover #Sol4844 #CuriosityRover #space #science
Mx. Eddie R@pomarede
I feel ya, Curiosity.
I feel ya, Curiosity.
DoubleTreble 🥰🇵🇸🌍🇺🇦😺💚🧶🫖@pomarede
So we're already leaving debris on another planet, go us 🤬
So we're already leaving debris on another planet, go us 🤬
Aaron Sawdey, Ph.D.@DoubleTreble @pomarede Have you seen all the pictures of sky crane debris that Perseverance and Ingenuity have taken? There's bits of insulation from that thing that got blown all over.
Z̈oé
Winchell Chung ⚛🚀Someone was a bit optimistic in their estimation of wheel durability
Galbinus Caeli
Michael Busch@GalbinusCaeli @nyrath @pomarede
Curiosity was designed to be able to drive even if the wheels are reduced to bare spokes, although not well: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wares-Chancharoen/publication/381094274_A_REVIEW_OF_STRUCTURAL_AND_SYSTEM_DESIGN_OF_MARS_ROVER_CURIOSITY_AND_PERSEVERANCE/links/665bf2aa0b0d2845747c008c/A-REVIEW-OF-STRUCTURAL-AND-SYSTEM-DESIGN-OF-MARS-ROVER-CURIOSITY-AND-PERSEVERANCE.pdf .
And the damage to Curiosity's wheels is why Perseverance's have significantly thicker tires.
Zdeněk Doležal
Ann EffesAh! I stand corrected.
It didn't occur to me that they would optimize to a specific number of years, instead of "infinity". Obvious in hindsight.
🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑@nyrath @Ann_Effes @pomarede
Very few engineered devices with either moving or electronic parts are actually engineered for more than a five year life. Some things are rated for ten year life, but that's actually rare. Things that last longer are due to having good margins, not due to a longer planned lifespan. Especially not for years with NO maintenance.
Very few engineered devices with either moving or electronic parts are actually engineered for more than a five year life. Some things are rated for ten year life, but that's actually rare. Things that last longer are due to having good margins, not due to a longer planned lifespan. Especially not for years with NO maintenance.
Nick@brouhaha @nyrath The latter is usually the case for things headed to space, especially if you can't practically switch over to a redundant spare. Since you went to all the money and effort to put it in space, you want to make sure it works for the intended mission life with high confidence, so you add a fair bit of margin, which means it'll has a good chance to last quite a bit longer than the intended mission life. But, as @Ann_Effes points out, there are costs to doing that, so you try not to go too overboard. @pomarede @Ann_Effes @pomarede
Krzysztof Sakrejda
Will 
Paul HammondWounded, but still roving ☺️
an actual bus@pomarede my feet after a long-ass walk (it was worth it)
^[[200~Michael
Scale TheoryThis is the best of the best for the cost of this tire?
NASA, you're fired. WE were ripped off, but fleeced by the oligarchy with too much and gas people who don't need another "dollar" for the rest of their lives.
woe2you@SCALETHEORY @pomarede It was designed for 2 years, it's lasted 13. That's not bad.
Birds Books and Bullshit@SCALETHEORY @pomarede The mission was designed to last about 700 days, but is now on day ~5000. Undoubtedly the wheels were made as light as they thought they could get away with, because every ounce matters in a rocket launch. If you make something lighter to save weight, it will necessarily be less durable. According to other comments, NASA decided the durability of the wheels wasn't as high as they were hoping and future rovers got thicker wheels, necessarily at the cost of weight.
Building a rover is like building a race car: Spend a fortune on making everything as light as possible, and by “possible” I mean: light enough to last just long enough. If it lasts LONGER, it wasn’t lightweight enough. Because transporting mass to Mars is incredibly expensive, making things lighter is therefore the first step to saving money. And after all, the component has exceeded its planned service life by a factor of 7.
So indeed suboptimal: Still too sturdy.
Yeah yeah, got it, but this is still the best of the best? Wow, okay next excuse.
Seems a wheel from a lawnmower/shopping cart (made lighter with the most expensive metals/plastic) would last longer.
How about putting what was wasted in research for anti-magravity/ion/alternatives or just half/quarter/eighth of what CERN has spent.
Common sense, its societies new superpower. Rockets don't even make sense worried about weight.
"Seems a wheel from a lawnmower/shopping cart…"
Do you know how big Curiosity is? You may confuse that with earlier rovers, but Curiosity is as big as a smaller car.
You are suggesting putting shopping cart wheels to a VW Golf.
Also lawnmower/shopping car wheels are very primitive wheel constructions with no consideration of weight at all. It is quite easy to make something which is as sturdy but weights about 1/10th.
NASA would attempt at least 1/20th.
To give you an idea of how well the shopping cart's wheels would fit, here is a photo of the rover in question: Curiosity is the big one on the right. Also note how wide the wheels are and and consider the potential benefits of very wide tires on sandy soil.
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/7ryuxl/a_size_comparison_of_three_generations_of_mars/
Cybarbie@Ann_Effes @SCALETHEORY @pomarede I think by now we have to realize that NASA scientists lie through their teeth about how long things are expected to last just so they extend the mission with "oh well it's there now it would be a real shame to waste it amazing its lasted this long... nooo us? would we do that? never!"
AccordionBruce@nf3xn @Ann_Effes @SCALETHEORY @pomarede
Never occurred to me those Voyager scientists were planing a generations–long job-retention plan for themselves
Never occurred to me those Voyager scientists were planing a generations–long job-retention plan for themselves
@AccordionBruce @Ann_Effes @SCALETHEORY @pomarede look how much _science_ we can fit in this >slaps roof<
@AccordionBruce @Ann_Effes @SCALETHEORY @pomarede on a more sad and serious note we are talking about turning off missions like Juno due to cuts when the pedo in chief is burning through the NASA budget in a couple of weeks with his reverse regime change.
jimfl@Ann_Effes @SCALETHEORY @pomarede Building a bridge that doesn’t fall down is easy. Building a bridge that just barely doesn’t fall down is challenging
Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤@pomarede
NASA didn't provide a pit crew‽
NASA didn't provide a pit crew‽
Gilberto Ficara@pomarede "ain't but a scratch" :)
ǝʌɐp
Urzl
Eye
Robin Barton@pomarede Where is Canadian Automobile Association when you need it?
A Republic, while we kept it@pomarede When 4800 sols old you reach, look as good you will not.
Tufty Indigo 🪗@pomarede They should have got Schwalbe Marathons, I'm pretty sure they'd still be going strong 😃
Kintarian
Howard Cohen@Kintarian @pomarede It's so far away.... It's gonna need AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Danny Boling ☮️Science! 🤩
burne
Lizzie---
stux⚡️@pomarede Our poor lonely fellow♥️
Soon you wonderful machine! Hopefully soon we’ll be there! 
Gnosyz 🖖
Faraiwe
Tâi Siáu-káu 台痟狗 ㄊㄇㄉ 🇳🇫 台灣國
echopapa@pomarede přezouvejte včas!☝️🤣
Mathaetaes@pomarede Ride it 'till the wheels fall off!
Robyn
varx/social@pomarede smh, rover is posting foot pics on main
Jose Luis Peruyero@pomarede
About twelve years of service without passing a MOT inspection?
About twelve years of service without passing a MOT inspection?
Drew 🇵🇭 ♾️@pomarede That'll buff out.
FeloniousPunk@pomarede And that's after driving ~20 miles.