Continuing wheel damage from hoards of sharp edged Martian rocks are forcing engineers to seek a smoother pathway forward – potentially through a treacherous dune field – for NASA’s Curiosity rover on the jagged rock strewn road to Mount Sharp, her primary science destination.
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Keeping all the sophisticated instruments onboard safe while guiding the one-ton rover over rises and through sand dunes would be an unprecedented challenge. Though it was only a six-mile road trip, team leaders predicted it might take as long as a year to finish. Mars, however, had other plans for the rover, and they weren’t cordial. The allotted year is almost over, and Curiosity is but halfway to Mount Sharp.
Mount Sharp is unlike anything extraterrestrial ever explored. The rocks and minerals there “will tell us so much about the geological history of the region, and maybe more of the globe,” says Curiosity geologist Ralph Milliken of Brown University. Given the scientific treasures known to be present, the base of Mount Sharp is often described by the Curiosity team as “the Promised Land.”
In one of the latest images taken on June 8, 2014, see 'Object Nr. 3' second image above, also an object what looks like a very small alien figure, but it is undoubtedly a rock or a 'sand structure', but I found it an interesting structure to show it to you. What you think?
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Finally, the question is whether the Rover can continue with his mission to "the Promised Land" or not. Read more here and here
Here is a composition image of several wheel damaging.
But it is not only wheel damage, newly received images taken by the Curiosity on June 8, 2014, show also other broken parts of the Rover.
Mount Sharp is unlike anything extraterrestrial ever explored. The rocks and minerals there “will tell us so much about the geological history of the region, and maybe more of the globe,” says Curiosity geologist Ralph Milliken of Brown University. Given the scientific treasures known to be present, the base of Mount Sharp is often described by the Curiosity team as “the Promised Land.”
In one of the latest images taken on June 8, 2014, see 'Object Nr. 3' second image above, also an object what looks like a very small alien figure, but it is undoubtedly a rock or a 'sand structure', but I found it an interesting structure to show it to you. What you think?
Finally, the question is whether the Rover can continue with his mission to "the Promised Land" or not. Read more here and here