NASA's Perseverance Has New-Pattern Wheels You May Not Notice Before

Jamie P., Tech Times 30 July 2020, 05:07 am

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will officially fly its 2020 Mars Rover called 'Perseverance.' Its schedule is happening this Thursday morning, July 30. For those of you that love to watch how Perseverance will get to the red planet, NASA has saved you a seat for its launch. Hours before we get to witness another part of the history, here's a quick fact about the Mars Rover. Have you seen its wheels?

Perseverance vs. Curiosity: Who's better?

Another historic event is set to be launch on Thursday, July 30. The space agency NASA will be conducting its launch of Perseverance, heading to planet Mars.

In Reddit, a different topic has been feasting about the new Mars Rover-- its wheels. It turns out that the 2020 Mars Rover has a distinct wheel pattern, compared to the 2011 Mars Rover called 'Curiosity.'

As explained, Curiosity's wheel pattern has a curvy look in it. Meanwhile, Perseverance has more refined straight patterns.

We don't yet know how this can make a difference in the NASA mission. However, one Redditor pointed out that for the Curiosity, "the purpose of the pattern is to create features in the terrain that can be used to measure the precise distance between drives visually," said Matt Heverly, the lead rover driver for Curiosity at JPL.

Though we didn't know the key difference of both patterns, it may have contributed to the new rover's speed. The Curiosity rover has a speed of 0.14 km/h, which means every 60 minutes, the machine will travel for an average of 140 meters.

Meanwhile, Perseverance has a faster speed with an average of 0.15 km/h or 150 meters for one hour.

Perseverance has a new style!

Though the 2020 Mars rover is based on the structure of 2011, Perseverance is much more upgraded than Curiosity.

According to the space agency, the Perseverance wheels have a "rocker-bogie" suspension system that was similar to the past Mars spacecraft. This system is the main connecting body between its wheels and the rest of its body.

Since Perseverance will be visiting Mars, the spacecraft will also have different stability towards rocky surfaces.

"When driving over the uneven Martian terrain, the suspension system maintains a relatively constant weight on each of the rover's wheels. The suspension also minimizes rover tilt as it drives, keeping it more stable," said NASA.

What will Perseverance do on Mars?

When Curiosity was launched in 2011 and arrived on Mars in 2012, his mission was to discover whether planet Mars could have supported microbial life, or if anyone could live on the planet.

Perseverance, however, has a different but alike mission. According to Tech Times, the 2020 Mars Rover is tasked to collect samples from Mars and deliver it to Earth for further studies. Not only that, but the machine will also have to seek ancient life on the planet-- more likely the purpose of Curiosity.

So, which Mars rover do you think is better?