How does the Curiosity rover survive dust storms on Mars?

Question

According to the answers to this question, a dust storm on Mars can last for many days.

Dust is a serious problem for mechanical joints if they use lubrication, because it may stick to the lubricant and can even impede its function.

How do Curiosity and other Mars rovers protect themselves from storms?

Note with 0.5% Earth atmosphere thickness, any dust storm is 200 times less intense than a storm of the same wind speeds on Earth. Sure Mars' 200km/h winds may sound impressive but remember it's 0.005bar of air pressure propelling the dust. — SF., Oct 01 '13 at 10:13
@SF.: But the dust is still hitting you at that speed, which is going to hurt. — Vikki, Jan 15 '20 at 21:45
True dat... But remember, aside from perserverance (or Opportunity for hardiness) curiosity may be one of the most tough rovers NASA has built thus far. — Deko Revinio, Aug 10 '22 at 16:31

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 26 '13 at 14:05

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The gear boxes are sealed, often a labyrinth seal. Opportunity has been operating for almost ten years with many actuators still working fine.

answered Sep 26 '13 at 14:05

Mark Adler

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A simple elegant solution to a bewilderingly complex situation! – RossC Sep 26 '13 at 18:47
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And unlike Opportunity. Curiosity runs off RTG so it's not affected by diminished solar energy. – SF. Feb 05 '17 at 03:11
however, curiosity cannot see in the dark. – Deko Revinio Aug 10 '22 at 16:29

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:54

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The engineers at NASA have made sure the rover is tightly sealed. Everything is made up of tough metals from the outside like titanium, copper, aluminium etc. So there is no chance of damage even in high speed dust storms. It also uses epoxies that are very strong and tightly seal the delicate instruments from the dust.Other joints are not problems as they are not affected by the dust As for the cameras the lenses are very tough, made of high grade polymer glass. There are no joints as you can see in the picture below, it is made of hydraulics which also is tightly sealed. So the hydraulic fluids are safe from the dust.

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:54

Community

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answered Sep 28 '13 at 06:07

Actually, there are several joints. Perhaps a bigger resolution photograph will show them more clearly: Photograph from NASA JPL photojournal - warning, 22 MB resolution compressed in a 2 MB JPeG file!. Curiosity rover uses steel bearings in its joints that have similar thermal expansion properties as its mostly titanium frame. ;) – TildalWave Sep 28 '13 at 08:56
@TildalWave, I meant majority of it's parts – Sep 29 '13 at 04:04
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Hydraulics? There is no transfer of power using pressurized fluids on Mars rovers. – Mark Adler Sep 29 '13 at 15:22
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As @TildalWave notes, there are many joints. You can see two very clearly in the picture, which are the steering actuators just above the front and back wheels. Every degree of freedom has a joint. Six wheel actuators, four steering actuators, five actuators in the arm, two for the high-gain antenna, two for the camera gimbal, and many more small ones for sample doors, drills, brushes, carousels, pumps, etc. – Mark Adler Sep 29 '13 at 15:26

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 20 '22 at 22:12

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Simple answer: Curiosity doesn't need to do much of anything special to survive a storm, because it does not rely on the Sun for power.

Long answer: Curiosity is largely unaffected by storms, because it runs on nuclear rather than solar power. (Curiosity is currently sidelined by an issue with its memory, however. NOT RELATED TO STORMS.) Curiosity's vital moving parts are sealed shut by what's called a "labyrinth deadlock seal" that prevents dust from getting into those little areas where Curiosity would be (otherwise) vulnerable.

edited May 20 '22 at 22:12

No Nonsense

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answered May 20 '22 at 18:02

Deko Revinio

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ATTENTION: this answer is now partway outdated. Rover Curiosity's memory problem hs been successfully fixed. – Deko Revinio Sep 02 '22 at 16:56

How does the Curiosity rover survive dust storms on Mars?

3 Answers3