Curiosity Imprints Morse Code on Mars Surface

Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity Rover vehicle tires have tread patterns that imprint the acronym JPL in Morse Code in the dusty soil of the Mars surface. The wheel tread pattern is made by square and rectangular holes in the wheels. When in motion riding around the sandy Gale Crater, this pattern is viewed by the driver using some of the 17 cameras aboard this interplanetary SUV. It takes about 14 minutes for radio waves to travel from the red planet to earth, through the Mars Odyssey orbiter relay satellite using UHF. Since there is a more than a 30 minute round trip delay between the driving commands and finding out the result of the measured moves, there is a need for the earth-bound drivers to maintain visual orientation and checks of distance traveled... this can be gauged by incremental count of the tread pattern repeats. Curiosity has 6 of these morse-coded wheels, and uses a rocker-bogie suspension, enabling it to climb obstacles. Who knows how many years these tread patterns will last on Mars? Perhaps when future Martian archaeologists study these strange fossil tread patterns a few hundred years from now, they will try to find someone studied in ancient radio lore to decode the meaning.


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http://youtu.be/G019Jci0abs

Bonnie KQ6XA

 

I *SO* want my CW callsign imprint on my tires! (might hinder my get-a-way-car jobs tho!)

 

This is S-O cool"-)

They've done it before.

BTW JPL is W6VIO.


73,
Chip W1YW

 

OK, I see it now. The "J" is on the bottom in the photo.

 

The spacing is just a bit off -- like some of the fists I've heard recently...

 

Until the next dust storm maybe? Apparently, they get quite a few on Mars.

Terry VK5TM

 

Oh Great...

Now we'll have the "No Code Galactic" people petitioning NASA to send another rover to follow behind Curiosity and blot out the Code in the sand...Sheeeeeeeeeeesh!

NyukNyukNyuk

73

Steve, K4YZ

 

"When all else fails...Morse Code the Universal Language"

 

Morse code imprinted by Curiosity that most hams can't read. That's the sad truth of it.

 

CW LIVES despite dis incentive licensing and no code license give aways.

Long Live CW !

 

That's unfair! Many people in the U.S. cannot read at all (U.S. census bureau calls them "functionally illiterate"), far less read CW; and many newer hams can't read Morse. In the future, let's petition for pictographic tires. It's only fair.

 

If they aren't even 'curious' enough to try...that's the VERY sad part.

73,
Chip W1YW

 

I thought the tires showed WV on them....

 

JPL must have though Morse code was a tiring subject.

 

For the tidy sum of $5 million, you can by advertising rights on the next rover's tires.