Which rover's wheel treads spell 'JPL' in Morse code?
Answer
Curiosity
Answer
Curiosity
Curiosity is the rover whose wheel treads spell “JPL” in Morse code. The tread pattern on each of its six wheels encodes the letters with short and long marks: dot-dash-dash-dash for J, dot-dash-dash-dot for P, and dot-dash-dot-dot for L.
The message is a small signature from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed, built, and operates the rover. It also serves a practical purpose. Curiosity's cameras can use the repeating wheel marks left in the Martian soil to estimate how far the rover has traveled and help engineers assess its movement.
Curiosity's wheels are part of a rocker-bogie suspension system, a design that helps the rover cross uneven terrain while keeping its body relatively stable. The rover has six independently driven wheels, and the front and rear wheels can steer. Its wheel design is often compared with those of Spirit and Opportunity, but the Morse-code JPL pattern is specifically associated with Curiosity.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026