A Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, one of the world's largest tire manufacturers, supplied essential products for NASA's Apollo 11 program to land on the Moon 53 years ago.
Now, Goodyear will continue that tradition by focusing on tire development for lunar vehicles, teaming up with Lockheed Martin to drive mobility on the Moon.
Since Apollo program, Goodyear continued to innovate with the US government space agency in the development of tires for lunar rovers. Together, the companies aim to be the first to establish widespread commercial vehicle operations on the Moon.
Goodyear brings its vast experience to one component of the mission to cross the lunar surface: tires.
“NASA's Artemis program for living and working on the Moon has a clear need for transportation on the lunar surface. We intend to offer vehicles operated autonomously or unmanned by astronauts.”, said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin. “We are developing this new generation of lunar mobility vehicles to be available to NASA and commercial companies, as well as other space agencies working to science and human exploration. This approach exemplifies NASA's desire for industry to lead with commercial efforts that allow the agency to be one of many customers."
Goodyear builds on its advanced airless tire technology used on Earth with micromobility, self-driving buses and enger vehicles to advance lunar mobility and withstand challenging conditions on the Moon. The companies are already applying the experiences developed in the project, including in a proving ground that simulates the lunar soil.
“Everything we learned from building tires for the extremely complex operating environment on the Moon will help us make better airless tires on Earth”, said Chris Helsel, Goodyear's senior vice president of global operations and chief technology officer. “This will contribute to our goal of enabling mobility no matter where it takes place. Just as important, it is an honor to write history with this prestigious company, which knows how to make giant leaps in exploration and mobility.”
The rovers (robotic vehicle) were built with the purpose of being used for a few days and within a radius of eight kilometers from the landing site. In future missions, crossings of rugged terrain with much greater distances and extreme temperatures are planned.
New tire capabilities will need to be developed to gain years of durability and even survive nighttime temperatures below 120°C and daytime temperatures above 120°C.
Lockheed Martin leads this growing team with a more than 50-year history of working with NASA on human and robotic spacecraft in deep space, such as NASA's Orion spacecraft for Artemis and several Mars planetary spacecraft. The company will also manage the development of the program's commercial operations and engagement with NASA and global space agencies. Lockheed Martin has also helped NASA explore every planet in our solar system and continues to develop new technologies for future space missions.
Another team partner, Canada's MDA, recently announced that its robotic arm technology will be used in human-rated lunar mobility vehicles. The arm will provide valuable contributions in of astronauts and enable greater rover (robotic vehicle) functionality in fully autonomous missions.
In doing so, teams are applying unique perspectives and shared experiences to new challenges and market approaches that are being considered for the first time. The companies hope to have their first rover (robotic vehicle) on the surface of the Moon in time to NASA's first landing mission, which will have the first woman and the first black person to walk on the Moon, currently planned for 2025.
