Rover Wheels

The Mars Exploration Rover has six wheels, each with its own individual motor.

The two front and two rear wheels also have individual steering motors (1 each). This steering capability allows the vehicle to turn in place, a full 360 degrees. The 4-wheel steering also allows the rover to swerve and curve, making arching turns.

How the Wheels Move

The design of the suspension system for the wheels is similar to the Sojourner rover "rocker-bogie" system on the Pathfinder mission. The suspension system is how the wheels are connected to and interact with the rover body.

The term "bogie" comes from old railroad systems. A bogie is a train undercarriage with six wheels that can swivel to curve along a track.

The term "rocker" comes from the design of the differential, which keeps the rover body balanced, enabling it to "rock" up or down depending on the various positions of the multiple wheels. Of most importance when creating a suspension system is how to prevent the rover from suddenly and dramatically changing positions while cruising over rocky terrain. If one side of the rover were to travel over a rock, the rover body would go out of balance without a "differential" or "rocker", which helps balance the angle the rover is in at any given time. When one side of the rover goes up, the differential or rocker in the rover suspension system automatically makes the other side go down to even out the weight load on the six wheels. This system causes the rover body to go through only half of the range of motion that the "legs" and wheels could potentially experience without a "rocker-bogie" suspension system.

The rover is designed to withstand a tilt of 45 degrees in any direction without overturning. However, the rover is programmed through its "fault protection limits" in its hazard avoidance software to avoid exceeding tilts of 30 degrees during its traverses.

The rover rocker-bogie design allows the rover to go over obstacles (such as rocks) or through holes that are more than a wheel diameter (25 centimeters or 10 inches) in size. Each wheel also has cleats, providing grip for climbing in soft sand and scrambling over rocks.

Rover Speed

The rover has a top speed on flat hard ground of 5 centimeters (2 inches) per second. However, in order to ensure a safe drive, the rover is equipped with hazard avoidance software that causes the rover to stop and reassess its location every few seconds. So, over time, the vehicle achieves an average speed of 1 centimeter per second. The rover is programmed to drive for roughly 10 seconds, then stop to observe and understand the terrain it has driven into for 20 seconds, before moving safely onward for another 10 seconds.

