Goodyear developing tyres for use on Mars

The non-pneumatic space tyre.

Goodyear is developing a non-pneumatic tyre for use on the Nasa Chariot, a manned vehicle designed for lunar and Martian exploration.

The "run-flat" technology is being evolved from Goodyear's original design for the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) tyres, used in the Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972. The unique atmospheric conditions on the moon and Mars require a non-pneumatic design capable of developing traction on sandy, undulated terrain in regions never before seen in detail. They must also support 10 times the weight and last 100 times the distance of the original LRVs.

Twelve tyres will be made by the end of next year and demonstrated at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. The project will also yield answers to the future application of non-pneumatic tyres on Earth.