NEWS | July 13, 2010
Curiosity Spins Its Wheels
The wheels that will touch down on Mars in 2012 are several rotations closer to spinning on the rocky trails of Mars.
This video clip shows engineers in the JPL clean room where the rover is being assembled as they put all six wheels into motion for the first time.
Engineers raised the rover just as a car mechanic would hoist a car to check the wheels, and started the “engine” to get the wheels rotating. The wheel mobility system has 10 motors in all—four for steering the rover and six for driving. During this test, all 10 motors ran in every direction. Each wheel spun forward and backwards.
Next up for Curiosity is a series of “tune-ups” to prep the rover for driving.
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Engineers just installed six new wheels on the Curiosity rover, and rotated all six wheels at once on July 9, 2010. This milestone marked the first in a series of “tune-ups” to get the rover ready for a drive in the clean room where it is being assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, which is expected to launch in late 2011, and touch down wheels-first in summer 2012.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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This video clip shows engineers in the JPL clean room where the rover is being assembled as they put all six wheels into motion for the first time.
Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Building Curiosity: Hot New Rover Wheels! NASA's next rover to Mars, under construction at JPL, turns its new set of wheels.
Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
