A photo recently beamed to Earth by NASA’s trusty Curiosity rover shows significant damage to its middle right wheel, but the vehicle is still able to traverse the red planet’s rocky terrain without too much difficulty.

Images captured by Curiosity's onboard cameras show several large tears in the tire of one of the rover's wheels. However, the damage does not appear to be slowing the roaming robot down.

NASA's Martian rovers, Perseverance and Curiosity, had an exceptional summer, detecting rocks with potential signs of ancient life, complex geology, and the planet's original crust.

As fun as it would be to visit Mars, we wouldn't necessarily want to walk a mile in the Curiosity rover's shoes — or rather, its wheels. After landing in Mars' Gale Crater in 2012 and traveling some 20 miles (32 kilometers) over the rocky Martian landscape,

Holes and Gashes NASA's Curiosity rover has spent over 4,400 Earth days exploring the desolate surface of Mars. It set its six wheels down on the planet's Gale Crater, the suspected dried-out remains of an ancient lake,

The reason scientists want the rover to explore the rim in the first place is for its potential to be littered with ancient Martian bedrock rubble. Jezero Crater formed when something substantial smacked into Mars billions of years ago. The impact could have churned up and tossed deep materials to the surface.