Curiosity Gets Her Wheels

By Nancy Atkinson - July 06, 2010 05:24 PM UTC | Planetary Science

She's a rover with places to go and things to do, so one of the main components of NASA's next Mars rover, the Mars Science Lab (named Curiosity) is wheels. Last week, the wheels and a suspension system were installed on the rover, an important step in getting ready for her mission to Mars. Launch is currently scheduled for sometime between November 25 and Decemeber 18, 2011, and Curiosity's mission is to study its landing site for habitable environments – both ancient and current.

There are four landing sites on Mars that are still in the running: Eberswalde Crater Delta (24.0°S, 327.0°E), Holden Crater (26.4°S, 325.3°E), Gale Crater ( 4.6°S, 137.2°E) and Mawrth Vallis (24.0°N, 341.0°). Wherever Curiosity goes, she will examine rocks, soil and atmosphere with a diverse payload of tools, including a laser to vaporize patches of rock from a distance and an instrument designed to test for organic compounds. (Watch the video for a demonstration).

Curiosity has six wheels, each of which has its own drive motor, and it uses a rocker-bogie suspension system like the previous Mars rovers, Spirit, Opportunity and Sojourner.

But the landing system is completely different. Curiosity is too large to use an airbag system, so it will used a Sky-Crane, a rocket-powered descent stage that lowers the rover directly onto the Martian surface on a tether.

If Curiosity launches during the currently scheduled launch window, she will land in August 2012.

Source:

JPL

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com