Pittsburgh, PA, and Tokyo, Japan, are coming together for a unique collaboration. Bridgestone Corporation announced a partnership with the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic to develop a Lunar Rover tire.

The first generation of the lunar rover tire; Photo: Bridgestone

Bridgestone utilized the knowledge that the company cultivated for over 90 years to develop first—and second-generation tire models. The company is experienced with making tires meant for almost every terrain on Earth, but now it is taking on a new challenge: the lunar surface. It teamed up with Astrobotic, a company in the lunar rover game for 17 years. Together, the two companies take on the challenge of evolving space mobility and lunar exploration.

According to the press release, Bridgestone’s innovations, “honed in extreme conditions such as motorsports, will play a key role in advancing mobility on the Moon. Bridgestone wants to take on the challenge of the Moon’s extreme and largely unexplored surface.”

Lunar Tire

The second-generation of the lunar rover tire; Photo: Bridgestone

The Bridgestone lunar rover tire will be developed for the Astrobotic 24U CubeRover. According to Astrobotic, the 24U CubeRover “is built to provide mobility, power, and communication support for scientific instruments and payloads on the lunar surface.” The 24U CubeRover is small. Astrobotic says it’s about the size of a standard kitchen stove. However, it boasts “robust capabilities,” including explicit steering, dynamic suspension, and long-distance communications to excel in harsh lunar terrain.

The Bridgestone lunar rover tire can deform when driving over obstacles like lunar rocks. Those capabilities come from the elastic skeletal structure of the metal spokes. According to the company, the design aims to maximize shock absorption and traction while improving energy efficiency. These are all vital to extended missions.

Bridgestone said in the press release, “This collaboration with Astrobotic, a leader in space exploration and technology development, marks another step in Bridgestone’s efforts to create new opportunities for co-creation with international partners.”

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