{"id":620780,"date":"2026-08-04T23:43:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/620780\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T23:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T23:43:39","slug":"nasas-curiosity-rovers-wheels-reveal-the-toll-of-14-years-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/620780\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Curiosity rover’s wheels reveal the toll of 14 years on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA’s Curiosity rover has picked up some battle scars during its 14 years of exploring Mars, with giant holes in its wheels revealing the toll of roving on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

Recent images published on July 23 on Curiosity’s raw image server<\/a> show cracks in the outer material of one of the rover’s wheels. The wear and tear was likely caused by the planet’s rugged southern terrain, which includes canyons and extinct volcanoes, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NASA's<\/p>\n

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on July 23, 2026, Sol 4963 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission. (Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Curiosity has experienced wear and tear.<\/p>\n

In 2013, about a year after it landed on the Red Planet, engineers noted damage to the rover’s wheels, which sparked concerns Curiosity would not be able to finish its mission. However, the rover kept going and is still exploring the Martian surface over a decade later.<\/p>\n

NASA and Jet Population Laboratory (JPL) engineers have continued to check in on the wheels.<\/p>\n

In 2024, NASA released images of one of the rover’s damaged wheels following one such check-in. While the damage appeared significant, NASA ensured in a statement<\/a> that the wheel “is still holding up well despite taking some of the worst abuse from Mars.”<\/p>\n

\"Images<\/p>\n

Images taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4963 on July 23, 2026. (Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/p>\n

While Curiosity continues to investigate Mars, it is not the only rover exploring the Red Planet. In February 2021, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover<\/a> landed on Mars’ surface in search of signs of past life.<\/p>\n

NASA said after seeing the wear and tear Curiosity’s wheels endured while driving over sharp Martian rocks, engineers redesigned Perseverance’s wheels to be “more robust.”<\/p>\n

\"AccuWeather.com\"<\/p>\n

A NASA rendering shows the differences between the Perseverance and Curiosity rover wheels. (Image credit: NASA)<\/p>\n

“They’re narrower, with a bigger diameter and thicker aluminum,” NASA said.<\/p>\n

Described by NASA as “the most advanced robotic explorer ever sent to the Red Planet,” Perseverance has already collected over two dozen diverse rock samples, among other discoveries, to lay the groundwork for future human exploration.<\/p>\n

Curiosity’s mission to uncover Mars’ past<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curiosity landed inside Mars’ Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, to explore if the planet ever had the right conditions to support small life forms known as microbes, according to NASA<\/a>. With a length of 10 feet and a weight of almost 2,000 pounds in Earth gravity, the rover is around the size of a small SUV.<\/p>\n

Curiosity has already found mineral and chemical evidence of past habitable environments on the Red Planet. It collected 42 powderized rock samples using the drill located on its arm, and it continues to examine the rock record from a period when Mars may have been home to microbial life.<\/p>\n

Curiosity’s recent discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n

On June 19 and 20 of this year, Curiosity discovered a field of surface features called polygons with honeycomb textures. This discovery is significant because the rover has never found so many polygons concentrated in one spot, NASA<\/a> explained.<\/p>\n

\"NASA's<\/p>\n

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured an image highlighting the polygons and their honeycomb-like textures on June 19 and 20, 2026. (Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS)<\/p>\n

Scientists are working to identify the cause of the unique formation, such as temperature cycles, drying out of the surface, shrinkage of the sediment or compaction after being buried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA’s Curiosity rover has picked up some battle scars during its 14 years of exploring Mars, with giant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[118608,18,19,136243,17,1203,1024,34594,133],"class_list":["post-620780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-curiosity-rover","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-image-credit","tag-ireland","tag-mars","tag-nasa","tag-perseverance","tag-science"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117039898223713232","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}