If you’re a space geek AND a car geek, Ford Motor Co. has put together a little graphic about the imminent landing (we hope) of Curiosity on the surface of Mars that you might find interesting. Yes, it’s a promotional thing, but not without some fun factoids.
Ron Hall, who works in Ford communications, reports in an email to us, “Like your readers, the space geeks at Ford (and there are more than a few of us here) have been following the journey of the Mars rover Curiosity with great interest. What’s seemed most remarkable to us is simply how large the Curiosity is, especially when you think about the rather compact size of past Mars rovers.
“To put things in perspective, we created a small graphic that shows the Curiosity next to the best-selling vehicle in the world, the Ford F-150. Once we got there, it led to an overall comparison between the two vehicles (and there are a lot of similarities).”
The comparisons include speed, engines, wheels, dimensions and working environments. You can find Ford’s graphic on the company’s media website.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind having a set of those Curiosity tires on my van during the long Wisconsin winters. Talk about making good time.