I think it is possible that those odd patches could be dust free areas of one of the many ribbon cables that feed power and signals to the rovers mast that are mustered in this location before running onto the mast.

I’ll also try and find an earlier image, but here is a pre-launch image of the rover (upside down) with its belly pan removed. Note the network of ribbon cables connecting the various instruments and electronics. If my assumption is correct, we’re seeing a section of the top ribbon in a stack of several ribbon cables, under a strain relief clamp, before they rise to the mast… More research is obviously needed… Watch this space :)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

We must go to mars to save them. I don’t care if the endeavor is otherwise entirely pointless. Bring our boys home

Could not agree more :) I hope they bring all the rovers and landers home one day in the future

Is it mostly aesthetic damage?

I find it hard to believe NASA didn’t think of everything.

There is a risk that partial splits of the wheel could damage the rover’s wiring, but they have a cunning plan to rip the affected part off before it can cause damage. The stongest part of the wheel would survive (the central rim) they could drive on that for years

They did think of everything they and everyone else knew at the time, but Mars rocks were more embedded in this part of Mars compared to those seen before. It was designed to last 2 Earth years, it’s been running for 14, so all is good. It’ll run for many more years :)

I recall when the first holes appeared in these wheels, all the doomsayers were telling the world its be unable to drive etc etc… that was a decade ago, and it is still roving, and climbing a mountain :)

the latency of the transmission/response must be mind blowing.

They send up drive commands for an entire drive. The onboard computer initiates the drive the next day, it has set parameters for tilt and roll as well as wheel slip, it stops on a regular basis and takes images to assess for hazards, if found it can drive around the hazard if the path is clear. if the hazard is too difficult considered to drive over or around it stops and acquires a complete set of images and calls home for a new set of commands. After the drive it sends home the drive data and a full set of images. The rover planners use the new images to plot the next drive

I would love to know the mileage! Keep on truckin’ lil buddy!

Before the drive today it was

37.50 km - (23.30 miles)

Today’s drive was around 30 meters

Additional upper tier NavCams acquired one sol later, but at the same site

Drive details

High resolution maps, open in separate tabs to see them full size

JPL map (my estimate was right for distance, but a schoolboy error had it east instead of west

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3x3 tiled NavCam robotic arm workspace (raw colour)

2x2 tiled NavCams Lower tier (raw colours)

Upper tier images from the NavCam (2x1 raw colour tiles)

HazCam view (12-tiles)

Drive data, all taken from the official JPL JSON URLs

Official map (200 meter scale)

Official map (20 meter scale)

Raw images (upper tier NavCams)

Map (estimated location) waiting for the official details

EDIT: Just checked and the map data has still not been released, nor are there any images from sol 1924 or sol 1925, it’s now late morning of sol 1926, so it looks like there is an issue. If I establish what the reason is I’ll make a post here…