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NASA reveals the new wavy Martian wheels it thinks can crush the red planet

Jon 37

When building payloads, mass reduction is really important. You have to get the thing as light as possible. This means you can't over-engineer things - for example the ladder on the side of the lunar lander was only going to be used on the moon, which has less gravity than earth, so they made the ladder too weak to be used in Earth gravity, but strong enough to be used on the moon. Bearing that in mind, there are a lot of differences between the missions:

* The lunar rover had to carry a couple of astronauts in EVA suits; that's a lot of weight. I believe the current mars rovers are lighter, so they can use weaker, lighter wheels.

* The lunar rover only had to last for a week or so of use; the mars rovers have to last years of constant use.

* The lunar rover drove on the moon; the mars rovers drive on Mars which has a different rock composition.

* The lunar rover was built many years ago; more modern materials are available now, and design tools (especially computer simulation) have advanced a lot, so modern designs can have less mass.

* The mars rovers are 6-wheel, and are designed to drive even if one wheel siezes up, to allow the mission to continue even if a motor fails. The lunar rover was 4-wheel.

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