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This is not a 'duh'. Curiosity is at the edge of what we can build and place on the surface of Mars. It's very carefully designed to handle the expected conditi

by dalke 12y ago

This is not a 'duh'. Curiosity is at the edge of what we can build and place on the surface of Mars. It's very carefully designed to handle the expected conditions on Mars. As the article points out in section 5, it's possible to make the wheels thicker, and handle a wider amount of surface conditions, but that comes at a cost. Not only would it be more expensive to deliver to Mars, but > a major constraint arose from a tricky moment in the landing sequence, at the moment that the wheels deployed, while the rover was suspended from the bridle underneath the descent stage. The wheels' sudden drop imparted substantial forces on the mobility system, and keeping wheel mass as light as possible reduced those forces to manageable ones. There were other factors that made it important to keep wheel mass low. Making Curiosity handle all of the worst (dry) terrain on Earth might end up with a machine that cannot be landed on Mars, or a reduced science capacity. Remember also that it was designed for a two year mission. That was a success. Now it's on an extended mission.

fit2rule 12y ago
In my opinion the condition of the wheels at this point in the mission profile is a 'duh', absolutely, but not necessarily a 'dud'. The investigators themselves admitted they were surprised to learn that the design of the cantilever, combined with 'sharp pointy rocks on Mars that have been stuck in place for millions of years', as well as what is a near-obvious flaw in the chevron design, produced the current conditions. Lesson learned, but hardly a surprise. I'm not saying it was a failure, just that the cause of the problems is hardly surprising, or even unpredictable given the circumstances. But, as always, design and budget constraints produce a panoply of ways things can get - eventually - busted in production ..

by dalke 12y ago

fit2rule 12y ago

In my opinion the condition of the wheels at this point in the mission profile is a 'duh', absolutely, but not necessarily a 'dud'. The investigators themselves admitted they were surprised to learn that the design of the cantilever, combined with 'sharp pointy rocks on Mars that have been stuck in place for millions of years', as well as what is a near-obvious flaw in the chevron design, produced the current conditions. Lesson learned, but hardly a surprise. I'm not saying it was a failure, just that the cause of the problems is hardly surprising, or even unpredictable given the circumstances. But, as always, design and budget constraints produce a panoply of ways things can get - eventually - busted in production ..