The wheels are quite literally falling off NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which is still trundling over the Red Planet some 13 years after it was dropped off there. Photos taken on Monday, March 23, also known as Sol 4844, show just how much damage the surface of Mars has inflicted on the explorer’s wheels. But despite this, the plucky rover is soldiering on. Every 3,330 feet (1,000 meters), the Curiosity Rover uses its cameras to inspect its wheels, and each time it gets slightly worse. PetaPixel reported on the state of the wheels in 2024, and it was bad then. But as a series of RAW photos uploaded to the Mars Science Laboratory website show, the wheels are in far worse shape now — sections of the tire sidewall have completely collapsed. On X, Anish Moonka explains that the wheels are only 0.75mm thick and crafted from aluminum. The wheels began showing signs of wear 14 months after landing on Mars because of the sharp rocks punching holes through the tread of the tires.…