Goodyear tires returning to the moon

Goodyear will supply airless tires for the new Artemis moon rover (see video). The manufacturer is already testing the concept on specialized equipment imitating the lunar surface.

In its final form, the tire will have to be sturdy enough to survive years of riding on the Moon’s rough, cratered surface. Temperatures may vary from -160 to +120 degrees Celsius on Earth’s satellite, and waiting for the day to change to night and vice versa takes the equivalent of 14.8 Earth days. All if the above will have to be considered when designing the wheel and the tire.

According to Chris Helsel, one of the executives at Goodyear, the experience that the company gained developing the extremely demanding Moon tires would enable it to produce the best airless tires to be used on Earth, too.

Goodyear supplied the Apollo 11 mission with various components in 1969. Aside from tires, it made the window frame for the command module, the instrument panel and floatation bags for the astronaut pod designed to keep it afloat if it lands in the ocean.