Curiosity Killed the... Wheel? Mars Rover is Damaged!

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Hi Spacecats, I'm Dr Maggie Lieu and welcome to my channel, where you can find all things space, astronomy and physics! NASA's Mars rover Curiosity's Wheel is FALLING APART on Mars! See the shocking damage that could threaten its mission. IS this the end of curiosity? or can NASA engineers save the day? Find out in this video!

Media credits:
Rover tyres: ZadocPaet
Various: NASA/JPL

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[swanronson]

Unfortunately Kwik Fit don't have a Mars branch yet. There's a Halfords on Phobos but they'd probably fit a tyre for a 1971 lunar rover.

[cdl]

Mars Guy channel gives excellent weekly updates on Perseverance and occasionally Curiosity's progress.

[annexcelestial]

Nasa needs to make a rover that transforms into a repair bot lol

[okman]

Nice your channel is very informative. Always reports on very underrated but important science news overlooked by mainstream science news sources. Subscribed 👍

[husk]

"what on mars could even cause such damage"! haha

[MicrobiusBlue]

The more the rovers get damaged the more i grow attached to them willing them on makes them more alive somehow

[annexcelestial]

I have a wallet like that and I love it!!! I don't have the tracker though...great job Dr Maggie!!!

[johnlewis]

Great video! I hope the rover can continue as it’s done a great job so far

[Kosmonooit]

I've seen very rounded rocks and pebbles (granite) on the Namib desert floor where it just about never rains - just from wind & sand.

[colasmimi]

Dr Space Mog, I love you so much!! Could you give us a video on the physics nobel prize this year and why it went to computer scientists? Love U xoxo!!

[Narrowgaugefilms]

Sometimes I wonder if a better form of locomotion for a rover might be legs: wheels work best on smooth surfaces like roads, but don't do so well with for example a bolder strewn surface. A legged rover could step over rocks and if there were 6 legs, it could stand on five while one was trial-stepped into a new spot.

[mechadense]

IIRC the first damage happened pretty suddenly and very early on in the mission. It was already quite severe from the get go. All careful driving since then.

[JohnnyWednesday]

Nooo! not our little robot - Mars will pay for this!

[HarryNicNicholas]

we still don't know why the martians shot down our helicopter, now they're leaving IED's on the highways?

PS well done spaceX, i told them it would work!

[ChrisM-hxkv]

Commenting to feed the algorithm🙃 Also enjoyed the update on the rover 🙂

[flakcannon]

The mogs got a sponsor, more coffee money!

[massimookissed]

5:30 Allowing it to climb up inclinations of up to 12°.

Oh. _Perseverance_ (with the same chassis) is currently trying to climb up a 14° slope.

[BZAKether]

That wheel has a lot of problems, I remember having a problem around 2014

[TropicalCoder]

You should partner with some microphone company that will give you a better mic. You audio is very poor.

[DeepVission]

I would speculate a combination of the highly abrasive mars surface during high winds or storms and the extremely high levels of UV radiation.