Talk about re-inventing the wheel or in this case, the tire. The non pneumatic tire featured in the picture above is a prototype model developed by Goodyear for use first on the moon and eventually on Mars. Using the 1960s Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle’s (LRV) wire mesh moon tire as a base, Goodyear has been working with NASA to improve the original design.
The original LRV tire that was woven out of piano wire, worked very well with each tire required to support about 60 pounds of weight (everything weighs 6-times less on the moon than on Earth) and be used for a maximum of 75 miles. However, NASA’s new fleet of lunar vehicles will require tires to support about 10 times the weight and last for up to 100 times the distance.
Via: Diariomotor