• Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
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    5 hours ago

    It was getting damaged power much as soon as they started using it. It’s kinda weird they didn’t catch something like that in testing on earth? Were the rocks on Mars just that more jagged?

    But also I think the wheels are aluminum as well, so very soft metal.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Designing any kind of space vehicle is always a trade off.

      The vehicle needs to be light enough to be launched from earth to mars, but durable enough to fulfill its mission goals.

      I’m sure if nasa had access to a vehicle that could send an M1 Abram’s sized, solid steel rover to mars, they totally would, but that would probably cost more than a moon mission, and the whole point of rovers is that they’re fairly cheap for the amount of research you can get out of them.