A photo of one of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's wheels, taken by the rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on July 23, 2026, or Sol 4963 of its mission. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has experienced some serious wear and tear during its nearly 14 years on the Red Planet.A new photo posted to Curiosity's raw image server offers a close-up of the damage one of the rover's wheels has experienced as it explores the Martian surface.What is it?Curiosity landed in Mars' Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, touching down while hanging under a 'sky crane' that lowered it to the planet's surface. Since then, the rover has traveled over 20 miles (32 kilometers) across the rocky Martian soil, searching for potential signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.All of that mileage has taken a toll on the rover, as these new images show. Curiosity weighs over one ton, and the terrain on Mars can be quite rocky and rugged.NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) periodically use the rover's cameras to check on the wheels, and despite the holes and cracks, the agency said in a 2024 statement that they're "holding up well despite taking some of the worst abuse from Mars."