NASA and GOODYEAR design revolutionary tires for Mars

The NASA It has completed rigorous rover tests on simulated Martian land, with a revolutionary technology of alloy spring tires with form memory.

The new technology has been developed at the Glenn Research Center of the agency in association with the well -known tire manufacturer for Goodyear cars.

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Rovers must be equipped with suitable tires for the environments they are exploring. As Mars has a rocky and irregular surface, durable tires are essential for mobility. The alloy spring tires with form memory (SMA) help to make it possible.

Memory alloys are metals that can return to their original form after being bent, stretched, heated and cooled. NASA has used them for decades, but applying this technology to tires is a fairly new concept.

Recover form even after impacts

In this new investigation, engineers focused on improving NASA’s existing spring tires with an innovative material: nickel-titanium SMA. Metal can be adapted to deformation despite extreme stress, which allows tires to return to their original form even with a rigorous impact, which is not possible for spring tires made with conventional metal, reports NASA.

Last autumn the teams traveled to Airbus Defense and Space in Stevenage, the United Kingdom, to test the innovators of NASA SMA SMA. The tests were carried out in Airbus Mars Yard, a closed installation created to simulate the hard conditions of the Martian land.

During the tests, the researchers monitored the rotoves while the wheels passed on rocks, paying close attention to how much the crowns of the tires moved, any damage and sliding downstream. The team was waiting for landslides and displacements, but they were minimal, and the tests met all expectations. The researchers also gathered information on stability, maneuverability and pneumatic rock crossing capabilities.