ROVER WHEELS: Monitoring changes over time, NOTE: Read back through the thread to avoid repeating misconceptions Options

[DeanM]

[MOD NOTE: This thread follows on a post by Ed Truthan containing a MAHLI mosaic of MSL wheels taken on sol 275.]

Ed: zooming in on that marvellous underbelly MAHLI montage, there appears to be further (and previously noted) deformation of the wheel surfaces.

Damage is most evident in the view of the front-left wheel inner surface.

Such wear has previously been discussed and concerns allayed.

Nevertheless, the front left wheel surface *appears* to have been punctured.



We've only done 700 meters, and have 7000 more to get to Mt Sharp.....

Given that more odometry has now accumulated, is any (re-)new(ed) concern valid?

DeanM

[elakdawalla]

After thinking about it for a while, I've changed my numbering system because I decided the up/down nomenclature would get confusing. Here's the summary again of the status on sol 513, with a map of the places I spotted holes. The map should be regarded as "notional" -- it's very sketchy.





I started looking at all the wheel imaging campaigns that have been performed since sol 463. There are tons. Here is 463:



There has been change in that time. I don't know if the map is the way to go for looking at change. A different way of going about looking for change is to construct a spreadsheet, where I note which inter-cleat spaces were seen on which sols, and note whether they contain holes. This approach has helped me find change. For one example, there is a biggish hole at the medial side of spot 9 on the right middle wheel that first appeared between this image from sol 463 and this one from sol 469 in which the RM wheel is entertainingly perched on a protruding rock. That new hole is on the edge of visibility in sol 469; it's easier to see in this image from sol 476. Incidentally, this is the same one that they targeted for RMI imaging on sol 502. The right middle wheel is easy to track because it's the easiest one to see from the mast-mounted cameras. In a sense, it's fortunate that the rear wheels appear to be less damaged, because they're the hardest ones to see.