Damage suffered by Mars rover Curiosity's aluminum wheels raise concern

Photographs obtained from Curiosity’s robotic arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager have shown marked wear and tear on the rover’s front left wheel.

The pictures have also highlighted scratched and punctures in its thin aluminum material, but the lead rover driver Matt Heverly said that such damages were to be expected, Discovery News reported.

However, the concern over the worsening condition of the wheels has grown after the one-ton robot rolled over some craggy terrain.

The project manager for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory, Jim Erickson, added that certain dents and holes were expected but the amount of wear appears to have increased in the past few months.

The ‘skin’ of the six aluminum wheels is only 0.75mm.