1409 - CacheCam image (Feb 05, 2025) Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

  • SpecialSetOfSieves@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    😃 Yes, these comparisons are pretty illuminating. I feel like the rover wheels really tell the tale here. If you squint hard enough, Curiosity is almost like Spirit - it faces rougher terrain than its “twin”, and has faced more adversity. Mt. Sharp/Aeolis is pretty unique geologically, and the place is just so mountainous, that the ripped-up wheels seem justified, somehow. Percy is kind of like “Oppy”, the golden child that was sent to a more benign environment, and literally bounced onto on the very thing we had dreamed of finding. Sample acquisition problems aside, Jezero Crater has been pretty good to us, as you can see from those very healthy wheels that Percy’s still sporting. I’d say Curiosity has fully earned those extra 30 metres 😁