Curiosity Rover Morse Code Wheel

A model of one of the wheels on the Mars Curiosity’s rover. NASA’s Curiosity rover has a special set of tires which have a morse code message embedded in its treads. The message read (• – – – / • – – • / • – • •), which spells ” JPL”. This is the acronym for the Jet Propulsion Lab, which manages the Curiosity rover mission for NASA. This morse coded message allowed Curiosity’s tires to create a distinguishable pattern in the Martian sand, which allowed the rover to calculate how many rotations it’s tires have made, and from there, the distance it has driven. This can be useful for when there is no clear landmarks around.