Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison uncovered a critical flaw in how lunar and Martian rovers are tested on Earth. Simulations revealed that test results have been misleading for decades because researchers only adjusted rover weight to simulate low gravity—but ignored how Earth’s gravity affects the terrain itself. Using a powerful simulation tool called Chrono, the team showed that sandy surfaces behave very differently on the Moon, where they’re fluffier and less supportive.
It just goes to show you, you can have whole teams of NASA scientists on a project, but there’s still going to be some factor they didn’t think of when the rubber meets the road.
Surely you mean ‘when the zinc-coated steel meets the sand’
It just goes to show you, you can have whole comment sections of Fediverse users on a post, but there’s still going to be some factor they didn’t think of when the rubber meets the road.
*When the comment meets the feddiverse
No, I mean the rubber of the trolley to the launchpad, and don’t call me Shirley.