In 2030, approximately In six years, American astronauts will return to the surface of the Moon. When they land, they will face the same challenge as millions of recently graduated teenagers around the world: they will need a comfortable vehicle.
The lunar mission, called Artemis VNASA plans to send two astronauts to the lunar surface to conduct six days of scientific experiments at the moon’s south pole. To do the job, NASA is ordering them a set of wheels, with an emphasis on wheels.
This spring, NASA announced that three groups had been selected to conduct yearlong studies of what it will take to develop a lunar ground vehicle (LTR). The groups, two of which are a consortium of companies, included two tire companies: Goodyear and Michelin. The other contender, Venturi Astrolab, has unveiled its own lunar wheel design.
The finalist for the contract will likely be announced in about a year, and whoever designs the LTV will face serious challenges. NASA has asked that the rover not only be ready to travel with two astronauts on board, but also to remain on the Moon for years to conduct scientific experiments and commercial work, even without human presence.
If you put rubber car tires on the Moon (especially at the South Pole in the middle of a lunar night, where temperatures can reach -300 degrees Fahrenheit), nothing good will happen. The tires will sink into the loose lunar soil, and the intense solar radiation from the Moon, which has no protective atmosphere, will instantly begin to break down the rubber. The extreme cold will then freeze the tires, making them unable to deform or compress and making them harder to roll. They will become brittle and break.
The problems only get worse with time. The moon’s soil, or lunar regolith, is especially abrasive, says Florian Vilcot, an innovation expert and designer at Michelin. That abrasion threatens to quickly shred any material it isn’t equipped with. That’s particularly important for the LTV because Michelin is designing a tire that will last 10 years and go more than 6,200 miles. (By comparison, the lunar vehicles, or “lunar rovers,” that took part in the Apollo missions in the early 1970s each traveled about 18 miles.)
Additionally, NASA documents outlining the required LTV specifications note that while the agency does not plan For the vehicle to jump, “there will be unplanned momentary instances” where a wheel might have to leave the moon’s surface.
Which means that a typical tire will not suffice.
The tire companies are still in the early stages of their year-long feasibility studies, but have released few details about their work. In a written statement, John Kantura, senior program manager for mobility architectures at Goodyear, says the Ohio tire company is focused on finding new tire materials and architectures “to ensure the tire can support exploration for the duration” of the lunar mission. Venturi Astrolab, which debuted its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover in 2022, has shown off “deformable” lunar wheels, which the company has said It will be made up of about 200 wires that act as spokes, a spring-filled outer rim and a new flexible tread material. (An Astrolab spokesperson says the rover’s design will continue to change as the company refines its model through testing over the next year.)
