10 Big Space Problems Solved By Simple Fixes Sending something into space costs millions of dollars and takes thousands of man hours, in part due to the fact that every eventuality needs to be prepared for—once that thing is in space, there’s very little you can do from Earth if something goes wrong. And yet, time and time again, something does. And time and time again, the lateral thinkers at NASA rise to the occasion.
10. The Curiosity Rover Drives Backward
The Curiosity Rover is a scientific marvel, as well as a mascot for our quest to conquer the stars, or at the very least, our own solar system. Considering that the Rover is around 56 million kilometers (34.8 million mi) away, getting the absolute most use out of it is paramount.
Wheel damage is an unavoidable by-product of driving around on a planet covered in jagged rocks, and Curiosity’s wheels have understandably become chipped and worn as it has explored the surface of Mars. Obviously replacing the wheels is out of the question, so NASA had to think up an on-the-spot solution. What they came up with is ingeniously simple: They told it to drive backward.
The Curiosity Rover has six wheels, so having it drive backward for some of its journey is a great way of spreading potential wear and tear across all of those wheels equally, making them degrade at a more even pace, thus increasing the potential lifespan of the Rover overall.....
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Poster Comment:
I must say that's a great, brilliant, GENIUS solution to that problem. Real logical! Am also enjoying wikid's assertion that 'Curiosity has been powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator' all these 20 years ;)