The company that supplies the special tires for the US space agency’s lunar vehicles may solve a big problem for the auto industry.
They are airless so they can never deflate, include sustainable materials and are very durable. The special tires fitted to NASA’s rovers are getting a new lease of life here on Earth, they report Euronews.
According to the American company SMART Tire Companyairless tires are made from a mesh made of shape memory materials, making them much more sustainable than regular rubber tires.
“You can use this structural element in a tire, so you don’t need air pressure anymore,” said Earl Cole, the company’s CEO and co-founder, referring to the innovative design. “The punctures don’t matter. You’ll never have a flat tire, so it can last the life of your car,” he added.
Used tires are becoming a worrying environmental issue because of their size and the chemicals they generate. The spread of electric vehicles, which are much heavier than traditional ones due to batteries, causing more wear and tear on tires, further contributes to pollution from the automotive sector.
“We think high-tech cars like electric cars should have high-tech tires because now we have these modern vehicles using the same poor technology from 100 years ago,” Cole said.
Tire manufacturers are being pressured by regulators to come up with solutions to the problem of pollution generated by these car elements, which can even undermine the green ratings of electric cars.
SMART Tire Company hopes that the tires used by NASA will make their way into an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The company plans to launch the first product of this type next spring, when it will test the market with a bicycle tire.
In a separate project, the company is collaborating on NASA’s newest rovers, the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, that astronauts will use on the Moon in 2028-2029 as part of the Artemis V mission.
T.D.
2023-07-30 08:00:02
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