Nov 15

Spring-Loaded Space-Tires Win Award for Goodyear and NASA

Posted in: space, Today's Chili, Transportation

Goodyear and NASA have received an R&D 100 (aka the “Oscars of Innovation”) award for their Spring Tire, a space tire that will never puncture, get frazzled by cosmic rays or otherwise ruin a perfectly good Moon or Mars mission.

The Spring Tire is, as you may already have guessed, made of springs. 800 interlocking, load bearing springs, to be precise. Unlike the Goodyear-developed wire tires on the original Lunar Rover, the new Spring Tires can carry heavier loads, and carry them further. The springs deform to the shape of the terrain, providing better grip, and return the energy of each bump when they spring back into shape.

Better, you can’t puncture it, a pretty handy feature when you’re hundreds of thousands of miles from home. An impact could take out one or two springs, but the rest easily take up the slack.

Rubber, according to Goodyear, is a pretty poor moon-material. It reacts strongly to temperature, of which there is a lot of variation without the protection of an insulating atmosphere, and it can degrade in solar radiation.

I wonder if these tires would be as practical on Earth, not for the city streets but for off-road use? I’m sure that if they ever went on sale, they’d soon find themselves accessorizing the same 4×4 “Chelsea Tractors” that are currently needed to drive the kids half a mile to school.

Goodyear and NASA […] Team Develops Energy Efficient Tire That Won’t Go Flat [Goodyear via Oh Gizmo!]

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