@pomarede

This 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.

@SCALETHEORY @pomarede

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.

@Ann_Effes @pomarede

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.

@SCALETHEORY @pomarede

"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.