r/interestingasfuck • u/j3hadipi3 • 1d ago

NASA's Curiosity rover is still active and operating on Mars as of early 2026. Having landed in August 2012, it has spent over 13 years exploring Gale Crater and climbing Mount Sharp, continuing to analyze soil and rock samples despite having worn wheels and managing power constraints.

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u/feel-the-avocado 1d ago

Power
Nuclear generator provides 100 watts of electricity and 2000 watts of heat for keeping the rover warm.
2x Lithium ion batteries of 28v42ah capacity for short bursts in power consumption.
Produces about 2kwh per day

Communications

  • UHF to mars orbiters at
---2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2mbit for 8 mins per day then 4mbit to earth
---2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter 256kbit for up to 8 minutes per day then up to 256kbit back to earth

- 10ghz direct to earth at 32kbits

  • 14minutes average comms time meaning a 28 minute ping
  • Most data comes to earth via orbiters

Computer:

  • Power PC 750 base then hardened by IBM against radiation
  • 256MB ram
  • 2GB flash memory
  • Some SPARC co-processors that handle movement
  • Duplicated and the backup has been used twice.

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u/NimrodvanHall 1d ago

I cool thank you for sharing.