Rough Roving: Curiosity's Wheels Show Damage
astroengine writes "In a recent batch of images beamed back to Earth from Mars rover Curiosity's MAHLI camera, obvious signs of wear and tear could be seen in the 'skin' of the robot's wheels. Considering Curiosity is only 281 sols (Mars days) into its mission and roved less than a kilometer after landing, surely this doesn't bode well? Fortunately, there's good news. 'The wear in the wheels is expected,' Matt Heverly, lead rover driver for the MSL mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told Discovery News. 'We will continue to characterize the wheels both on Mars and in the Marsyard, but we don't expect the wear to impact our ability to get to Mt. Sharp.'"
ability
calif
curiosity
earth
fortunately
heverly
mahli
mars
marsyard
matt
mission
msl
nasa
pasadena
propulsion laboratory
Opportunity Breaks NASA's 40-Year Roving Record
astroengine writes "After nine years of hard Mars roving, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity has broken a 40-year-old extraterrestrial distance record. On Thursday, the tenacious six-wheeled robot drove 80 meters (263 feet), nudging the total distance traveled since landing on the red planet in 2004 to 35.760 kilometers (22.220 miles). NASA's previous distance record was held by Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt when, in December 1972, they drove their Lunar Roving Vehicle 35.744 kilometers (22.210 miles) over the lunar surface. Although it's broken the NASA distance record, it hasn't surpassed the international record, yet. The Soviet Lunokhod 2 remote-controlled moon rover roved 37 kilometers (23 miles) across the lunar surface and, so far, remains the undisputed champion of distance driving on an extraterrestrial surface."
apollo
cernan
champion
distance
eugene
exploration
harrison
lunokhod
mars
mer
nasa
opportunity
schmitt
soviet
Dust Devils Scour Surface of Mars
astroengine writes "Dust devils are a well-known atmospheric phenomena on Mars, and as these new HiRISE observations show, the devilish vorticies can carve beautiful patterns in the Martian dust. What's more — in side-by-side comparisons of observations of the same Mars region years apart — it appears that the active Mars atmosphere acts like an Etch A Sketch, rubbing out the dust devils' tracks, only for the dust devils to make brand new tracks years later."
devils
hirise
mars
martian
observations
region
vorticies
TopFinds: Powerful photo from Bangladesh disaster, living on Mars
A compelling photo captures a haunting scene amid the ruins of the collapsed Bangladesh garment factory in Savar. Thousands apply to live in a Mars colony. Talking to Robert Downey Jr. about Iron Man 3. Read on to learn more in this week's TopFinds.
bangladesh
downey
garment
mars
read
robert
savar
topfinds
Pakistanis Vote as Violence Mars End of Vibrant Campaign
Voters across Pakistan turned out to the polls as threats of election day attacks became a reality, with a bombing in Karachi killing at least 11 people, doctors said.
election
karachi
mars
pakistan
pakistanis
reality
violence