NASA sets sights on Mars terrain with advanced tire tech

The mystique of Mars has been studied for hundreds of years. The fourth planet from the solar is paying homage to a wealthy, pink desert and contains a rugged floor difficult to traverse. Whereas a number of robotic missions have landed on Mars, NASA has solely explored 1% of its floor.

Forward of future human and robotic missions to the Pink Planet, NASA just lately accomplished rigorous rover testing on Martian-simulated terrain, that includes revolutionary form reminiscence alloy spring tire know-how developed on the company’s Glenn Analysis Heart in Cleveland in partnership with Goodyear Tire & Rubber.

Rovers—cell robots that discover lunar or planetary surfaces—should be geared up with satisfactory tires for the environments they’re exploring. As Mars has an uneven, rocky floor, sturdy tires are important for mobility. Form reminiscence alloy (SMA) spring tires assist make that potential.

Form reminiscence alloys are metals that may return to their unique form after being bent, stretched, heated, and cooled. NASA has used them for many years, however making use of this know-how to tires is a reasonably new idea.

“We at Glenn are one of many world leaders in bringing the science and understanding of how you modify the alloy compositions, how you modify the processing of the fabric, and the way you mannequin these techniques in a approach that we are able to management and stabilize the behaviors in order that they will really be utilized in actual purposes,” mentioned Dr. Santo Padula II, supplies analysis engineer at NASA Glenn.

Padula and his staff have examined a number of purposes for SMAs, however his epiphany of the chances for tires happened due to an opportunity encounter.

Whereas leaving a gathering, Padula encountered Colin Creager, a mechanical engineer at NASA Glenn whom he hadn’t seen in years. Creager used the chance to inform him in regards to the work he was doing within the NASA Glenn Simulated Lunar Operations (SLOPE) Laboratory, which may simulate the surfaces of the moon and Mars to assist scientists take a look at rover efficiency. He introduced Padula to the lab, the place Padula instantly took be aware of the spring tires. On the time, they had been fabricated from metal.

Padula remarked, “The minute I noticed the tire, I mentioned, aren’t you having issues with these plasticizing?” Plasticizing refers to a metallic present process deformation that is not reversible and may result in injury or failure of the part.

“Colin advised me, ‘That is the one drawback we will not resolve.'” Padula continued, “I mentioned, I’ve your resolution. I am creating a brand new alloy that can resolve that. And that is how SMA tires began.”

From there, Padula, Creager, and their groups joined forces to enhance NASA’s present spring tires with a game-changing materials: nickel-titanium SMAs. The metallic can accommodate deformation regardless of excessive stress, allowing the tires to return to their unique form even with rigorous impression, which isn’t potential for spring tires made with typical metallic.

Since then, analysis has been plentiful, and within the fall of 2024, groups from NASA Glenn traveled to Airbus Defence and Area in Stevenage, United Kingdom, to check NASA’s progressive SMA spring tires. Testing passed off on the Airbus Mars Yard—an enclosed facility created to simulate the cruel situations of Martian terrain.

“We went on the market with the staff, we introduced our movement monitoring system and did completely different checks uphill and again downhill,” Creager mentioned. “We carried out quite a lot of cross slope checks over rocks and sand the place the main target was on understanding stability as a result of this was one thing we had by no means examined earlier than.”

Through the checks, researchers monitored rovers because the wheels went over rocks, paying shut consideration to how a lot the crowns of the tires shifted, any injury, and downhill sliding. The staff anticipated sliding and shifting, but it surely was very minimal, and testing met all expectations. Researchers additionally gathered insights in regards to the tires’ stability, maneuverability, and rock traversal capabilities.

As NASA continues to advance techniques for deep area exploration, the company’s Extravehicular Exercise and Human Floor Mobility program enlisted Padula to analysis further methods to enhance the properties of SMAs for future rover tires and different potential makes use of, together with lunar environments.

“My aim is to increase the working temperature functionality of SMAs for purposes like tires, and to take a look at making use of these supplies for habitat safety,” Padula mentioned. “We’d like new supplies for excessive environments that may present power absorption for micrometeorite strikes that occur on the moon to allow issues like habitat constructions for giant numbers of astronauts and scientists to do work on the moon and Mars.”

Researchers say form reminiscence alloy spring tires are just the start.