Robustness and Redundancy in Space Exploration: Lessons from the Curiosity Rover's Stuck Arm Incident The Curiosity Rover's stuck arm incident on Mars has left many in the space community wondering what went wrong and how it can be prevented in future missions.
The rover, which landed on Mars in 2012 as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, was designed to explore the Martian surface for two years with a robotic arm that could collect samples and conduct experiments.
The incident occurred in May 2021 when NASA announced that the Curiosity Rover's stuck arm had been unable to move since October 2019 due to a faulty motor in the arm's elbow joint.