As I mentioned in my previous diaries, the spokes are a challenge in the design and building of the 1:3 Perseverance Mars rover replica.
The wheels of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover are connected to their axes via bent spokes. In each wheel, there are six spokes.
These twisted spokes were bent twice in two directions from the wheel axis to the inner surface of the wheel. These specially designed spokes serve as a mechanical spring system contributing to buffer bumps during the Perseverance rover’s journey on Mars, while at the same time, they together bear the weight of the entire Perseverance Mars rover.
The spokes of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover are made of titanium but we will use aluminum or steel to build them in our 1:3 Perseverance Mars rover replica. To ensure that the two bendings of each spoke in the 1:3 Perseverance Mars rover replica mold accurately as the design, we designed a special tool for the bending operation.
Since we will build the 1:4 Perseverance Mars rover static replica first, we will test our spoke design in the 1:4 replica first.