NASA’s Curiosity rover has suffered significant wear and tear on its wheels as latest images reveal.
The rover which has spent more than 4,400 Earth days exploring Martian surface now has clear signs of decay with broken giant gashes in one of its wheels.
The images took space fans by surprise and some opt to question what the agency has been doing to repair or even replace machines exploring the Red Planet.
NASA Has Learned Its Lessons
But despite much pessimism online, NASA engineers and scientists are confident that the rover remains fully operational.
Not just that, the agency has also learned lessons from the Curiosity rover that has been roaming the Red Planet since 2012.
NASA applied lessons learned from Curiosity’s wheel damage to the design of its newer Perseverance rover, which landed in 2021.
The Perseverance rover features larger wheels with a modified design aimed at preventing the type of damage seen on Curiosity.