Photo of the Mars rover Curiosity with a flat tire released by NASA on September 24 shows that the multi-year journey on Mars has affected a wheel on the right side of the rover. Many large holes were recorded on the wheels, including a particularly large hole that exposed the inner structure.
For now, NASA scientists do not know when these holes will first appear and whether any other wheel of the Curiosity spacecraft will have a similar problem.
NASA's Curiosity mission operations engineer Ashley Stroupe affirmed that the damage looked serious but the Mars rover was still operating well.
This image highlights the wear and tear after the spacecraft traveled for 12 years on the harsh terrain of the red planet. The incident also does not appear to affect the speed of NASA's rover on the red planet.
With the size of the hole in the wheel of the Mars Curiosity rover, it is possible that rocks and soil on Mars may fall inside, but this information has not been confirmed.
The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on August 5, 2012 and was originally expected to operate for only 2 years. However, this durable Mars rover has exceeded all expectations and has operated for 4,323 days (ie Mars days), traveling more than 32km around the Gale cape.
Over the past 12 years, the Curiosity rover has been used by scientists to study the Martian sky, searching for signs of life on Mars.
NASA's rover has also discovered many strange things on the red planet, including a book-shaped Mars rock, a mineral flower, a Star Trek symbol and a mysterious "alien" door...
According to Live Science, there is currently no sign that the Mars Curiosity rover will soon stop operating. But if it does, Curiosity will join the list of recent losses to Mars' devices.
China's Zhu Zung Mars rover is said to have ended its mission last year after many months of inactivity. NASA's Ingenuity Mars rover sent its most recent message to Earth in April this year.
According to Live Science, this is not the first time the wheel of one of NASA's Mars rover has been in the spotlight.
In 2022, researchers noticed a rock stuck in the wheel of NASA's latest Mars rover Perseverance. The Martian rock stayed in the wheel of NASA's rover for more than a year and fell off in April 2023.
