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Michelin has developed a new Lunar Wheel for the next generation of NASA’s moon rover vehicles.
The structurally supported tire and wheel assembly, made of breakthrough composite materials, was jointly engineered at Michelin’s European and North American research centers. This innovation will meet NASA’s mobility challenges for manned and un-manned moon missions planned for the coming decade.
“Michelin has partnered with NASA for more than 20 years to provide tires for the space shuttle, and now we are taking our involvement a step further in support of the next generation of space exploration,” says David Stafford, chief operating officer of the Michelin Americas Research Co. “This project demonstrates Michelin’s ability to engineer advanced technology that meets the mobility needs of the world’s most demanding customers, including NASA.”
Based on the award-winning Michelin Tweel assembly, the new Lunar Wheel maintains flexibility and constant ground contact pressure that enables moon rovers to traverse loose soil and lunar craters. It has a low mass yet maintains a high load capacity that is 3.3 times more efficient than the original Apollo Lunar Rover wheels. The wheel structure employs Michelin-patented composite materials. Its textile tread, developed in conjunction with Clemson University and Milliken & Co., enables moon rovers to maintain traction at very low temperatures.
“This new technology not only applies to lunar missions, but may also be directly leveraged into other mobility applications requiring light-weight and low rolling resistance,” says Stafford. “It’s an exciting advance for mobility in space and here on Earth.”
Funded in part by a grant from NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program, the wheel will be featured on the Scarab Rover, a lunar robot designed by Carnegie Mellon University, in cooperation with NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program for its In-Situ Resource Utilization project.
Equipped with a drill designed to cut through layers of lunar soil, the Scarab Rover is capable of operating in continual darkness and extremely cold temperatures with little power. Michelin has also developed a lunar wheel for the ATHLETE Rover, a six-limbed lunar rover capable of transporting cargo over any terrain to aid NASA in the assembly of the lunar outpost.
“Michelin’s team of scientists and engineers worked closely with our design team to create a solution that addresses the unique challenges of lunar development of the exploration,” says Jaret B. Matthews, NASA’s principal investigator for the project, which “successfully exceeds our initial design targets.”
For more information, visit www.michelin-us.com.
