Science! By Matthew Humphries Feb. 4, 2014 8:28 am
If anything goes wrong with the Curiosity rover, it’s not like NASA can just send out a repair guy to fix the problem. So whatever Curiosity does, it’s only after careful deliberation and a lot of planning back on Earth. When it comes to moving around, extra care is taken due to how hostile the environment is, with Curiosity’s metal wheels regularly getting scratched and pierced by the sharp rocks covering the surface of Mars.
It’s not just rocks that pose a problem for Curiosity, though. It’s sand. Due to the weight of the rover, there’s always the risk of it hitting some deep sand and getting stuck, or encountering something buried in the sand that poses a mission-ending problem. So far such problems have been avoided, but NASA is being forced to take a risk due to a sand dune blocking Curiosity’s path.
NASA wants Curiosity to enter a small valley where the ground is smoother before continuing on to an area of fresh bedrock known as KMS-9 to do some drilling. In order to get there, however, Curiosity needs to travel over a sand dune that’s 1-meter-high, which can be seen at the bottom of the image below.
Curiosity’s wheels are certainly capable of traversing the dune, and NASA has found a relatively smooth path to follow once over it that has been named Dingo Gap. But what can’t be predicted is how the relatively small dune will react to Curiosity’s weight, or whether it hides any rocks just beneath its surface. Curiosity could get beached in a sand trap, or stuck on a rock.
As you’d expect, NASA is taking things slow. Curiosity will initially climb part way up the dune as a test. If the sand beneath remains pretty stable then there’s every chance NASA will command the rover to push on over the top and on into Dingo Gap.
Here’s hoping Curiosity makes the climb without any major problems and manages to add at least another 5km to the 5 it has already logged during its 18-month Mars adventure.
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It’s not just rocks that pose a problem for Curiosity, though. It’s sand. Due to the weight of the rover, there’s always the risk of it hitting some deep sand and getting stuck, or encountering something buried in the sand that poses a mission-ending problem. So far such problems have been avoided, but NASA is being forced to take a risk due to a sand dune blocking Curiosity’s path.
NASA wants Curiosity to enter a small valley where the ground is smoother before continuing on to an area of fresh bedrock known as KMS-9 to do some drilling. In order to get there, however, Curiosity needs to travel over a sand dune that’s 1-meter-high, which can be seen at the bottom of the image below.
Curiosity’s wheels are certainly capable of traversing the dune, and NASA has found a relatively smooth path to follow once over it that has been named Dingo Gap. But what can’t be predicted is how the relatively small dune will react to Curiosity’s weight, or whether it hides any rocks just beneath its surface. Curiosity could get beached in a sand trap, or stuck on a rock.
As you’d expect, NASA is taking things slow. Curiosity will initially climb part way up the dune as a test. If the sand beneath remains pretty stable then there’s every chance NASA will command the rover to push on over the top and on into Dingo Gap.
Here’s hoping Curiosity makes the climb without any major problems and manages to add at least another 5km to the 5 it has already logged during its 18-month Mars adventure.
More...
