Rugged Martian Terrain Chewing Up Curiosity Rover's Wheels

The left-front wheel of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows dents and holes in this image taken during the 469th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Nov. 30, 2013).

Credit: NASA /JPL-Caltech /MSSS

Engineers are gearing up to perform a check of the Mars rover Curiosity's six wheels, which have accumulated a lot of wear and tear during the robot's 16 months on the Red Planet.

In the near future, the mission team plans to drive NASA's 1-ton Curiosity rover to a smooth patch of ground and photograph its six aluminum wheels using the robot's arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager camera (MAHLI), oficials said.

"We want to take a full inventory of the condition of the wheels," Curiosity project manager Jim Erickson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement today (Dec. 20).

"Dents and holes were anticipated, but the amount of wear appears to have accelerated in the past month or so," Erickson added. "It appears to be correlated with driving over rougher terrain."

"The wheels can sustain significant damage without impairing the rover's ability to drive. However, we would like to understand the impact that this terrain type has on the wheels, to help with planning future drives."

Routes to future destinations may prioritize reducing the time Curiosity spends trundling over sharp rocks and other rough terrain, mission officials added.



Engineers also just finished upgrading the rover's software, marking the third such installation peformed since Curiosity touched down inside Mars' huge Gale Crater in August 2012.

Among other features, this latest version improves Curiosity's ability to use its robotic arm while on slopes, mission team members said.

This skill should come in handy when the rover reaches the base of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky from Gale Crater's center.

New computer model may explain moon Europa's chaotic terrain

This rendering shows the temperature field in a simulation of Europa’s global ocean dynamics, where hot plumes (red) rise from the seafloor and cool fluid (blue) sinks downward from the ice-ocean interface. 

More heat is delivered to the ice shell near the equator where convection is more vigorous, consistent with the distribution of chaos terrains on Europa. 

Credit: Model image created by K. M. Soderlund with the image of Europa taken from NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

A team of researchers at the University of Texas with assistance from a computer modeler at the Max Planck Institute in Germany has put together a computer model that might just explain the peculiar surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.

In their paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the team suggests the odd surface terrain patterns likely come about due to convection. Jason Goodman of Wheaton College offers a perspective on the researchers' findings in a News & Views piece printed in the same journal.

The NASA space probe Voyager flew past Jupiter and its moons in 1979, and in so doing, set off a debate about the nature of the surface of one such moon, Europa, that has continued to this day—why is the surface so smooth, and why are there odd rough patches covering nearly 40 percent of its surface?

Scientists agree that the general smoothness is likely due to the existence of water beneath the icy surface—the lack of craters indicates a surface that is able to heal itself after impacts.

Less of a consensus has been found regarding the rough patches, however, which scientists call "chaotic terrain."

Galileo

In this new study, the researchers used data from hydro-systems here on Earth as well as data from both Voyager and the Galileo spacecraft (which detected a magnetic field) to create what they believe is a reasonable model of a convection process working beneath the icy shell of Europa's surface.

Some have suggested Europa's surface gets its unique features due to the pull of gravity from Jupiter—others have suggested the sun plays a role.

Such theories have not held much weight however, as there is little evidence to suggest that either could account for the chaotic terrain.

Instead, the modelers suggest, it's due to convection driven by heat from the interior of the moon itself.

Their model shows, they write that currents beneath the ice tend to deliver heat primarily to the equatorial regions of the surface which in turn causes constant heating, melting and refreezing—resulting they say, in the chaotic terrain that we are able to observe.

More information: Ocean-driven heating of Europa's icy shell at low latitudes, Nature Geoscience (2013) DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2021

NASA Messenger: Mercury's Surface Resembles Rare Meteorites

These image of Mercury by NASA's Messenger probe show the distinctive colour of the planet's northern plains and their surrounding terrain. 

The top image is as Messenger saw the scene, with the bottom image enhanced to bring out features. Image released June 16, 2011. 

CREDIT: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington 

Mercury has a surface unlike any other planet's in the solar system, instead resembling a rare type of meteorite, researchers say.

The finding, based on an analysis of data from NASA's Messenger probe, sheds new light on the formation and history of the mysterious innermost planet, scientists add.

Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, is also one of the least understood, having received much less attention from scientific missions than Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

NASA set out to change that when it launched the Messenger probe a little more than eight years ago. Messenger became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

Past research based on Messenger data suggested a vast part of Mercury is covered with hardened lava, enough to bury the state of Texas under 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of once-molten rock, scientists said.

All in all, these mammoth floods of lava cover 6 percent of the planet's surface, an area equal to nearly 60 percent of the continental United States.

They created Mercury's smooth northern plains between 3.5 billion to 4 billion years ago.

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/CIW-DTM/GSFC/MIT/Brown University. Rendering by James Dickson and Jim Head.

Perspective view of ancient volcanic plains in the northern high latitudes of Mercury revealed by NASA's Messenger spacecraft.

Purple colours are low and white is high, spanning a range of about 2.3 km.

Width of area spans about 1200 km. Each line is 5 degrees in latitude and longitude.

Lava plains are common in the solar system.

For instance, young Mars spewed lava all across its surface, and it still has the largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons is about 370 miles (600 km) in diameter, wide enough to cover the entire state of New Mexico, and 16 miles (25 km) high, three times taller than Mount Everest.

Now, 205 measurements of Mercury's surface composition, made by the X-ray spectrometer onboard Messenger, reveal how much Mercury's surface differs from those of other planets in the solar system.

"Being the closest planet to the sun does mean its formation history would be different and more extreme than the other terrestrial planets, with hotter temperatures and exposure to a stronger gravitational field," says lead study author Shoshana Weider, a planetary geologist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The surface is dominated by minerals high in magnesium and enriched in sulfur, making it similar to partially melted versions of an enstatite chondrite, a rare type of meteorite that formed at high temperatures in low-oxygen conditions in the inner solar system.

"The similarity between the constituents of these meteorites and Mercury's surface leads us to believe that either Mercury formed via the accretion of materials somewhat like the enstatite chondrites, or that both enstatite chondrites and the Mercury precursors were built from common ancestors," Weider said.

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: First Image - Mount Sharp

Picture: NASA/JPL-Caltech / Rex Features

This image taken by NASA's Curiosity shows what lies ahead for the rover - its main target, Mount Sharp.

 The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground, and the dark bands beyond are dunes.

Rising up in the distance is the highest peak Mount Sharp at a height of about 3.4 miles.

The Curiosity team hopes to drive the rover to the mountain to investigate its lower layers, which scientists think hold clues to past environmental change.

MARS HiRise: Bright and Dark Terrain in Noctis Labyrinthus

Bright and Dark Terrain in Noctis Labyrinthus

To view more of the latest images visit the HiRise website

HiRISE | Digital Terrain Map: Fresh Impact Crater

Fresh Impact Crater

HiRISE | DTM: Fresh Impact Crater

HiRise Digital Terrain Map

Mars rover Opportunity's Scenic View After Sol 2363 Drive

Opportunity's Surroundings After Sol 2363 Drive

This mosaic of images from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows surroundings of the rover's location following an 81-meter (266-foot) drive during the 2,363rd Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's mission on Mars (Sept. 16, 2010).

The camera took the component images for this 360-degree panorama during sols 2363 to 2365.

The terrain includes light-toned bedrock and darker ripples of wind-blown sand.

For scale, the distance between the parallel wheel tracks in the right half of the image is about 1 meter (about 40 inches).

This view is presented as a cylindrical projection.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Extreme Life on Earth Could Survive on Mars

Extreme Life on Earth Could Survive on Mars, Too


The Lost Hammer Spring on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada, may be even more inhospitable than some places on Mars. Yet it hosts microbial life, scientists found. Credit: Dept. of Microbiology, McGill University, Montreal

A new discovery of bacterial life in a Martian-like environment on Earth suggests our neighboring red planet could also be hospitable to some form of microbial life.

Researchers found methane-eating bacteria that appear to be thriving in a unique spring called Lost Hammer on Axel Heiberg Island in the extreme north of Canada.

This spring is similar to possible past or present springs on Mars, the scientists say, so it hints that microbial life could potentially exist there, too. There is no firm evidence that Mars does or ever did host life, however.

The Lost Hammer spring is extremely salty – so much so that the water doesn't freeze, even though temperatures are below freezing. The water has no consumable oxygen in it, but there are big bubbles of methane that rise to the surface.