Michelin Lunar Wheel Shown Off During Obama Inauguration Parade

Barack Obama may have travelled on Goodyear truck tyres to his January 20 inauguration, but competitor Michelin was by no means left out in the cold during the day’s festivities. The manufacturer reports that NASA astronauts piloted their latest generation moon vehicle, the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, in the Washington D.C. inaugural parade. The lunar rover rode from the US Capitol to the White House upon a specially engineered Michelin Tweel assembly.

“Michelin and NASA have a long history of successful collaboration. For more than 20 years, Michelin has supplied tyres for the space shuttle. Over the past three years, we have also worked with NASA to develop a revolutionary tire/wheel assembly for the next generation of lunar rovers,” said David Stafford, chief operating officer of Michelin Americas Research Company. “We are pleased that NASA, one of the world’s most demanding customers, has selected Michelin to accompany them as millions see this amazing vehicle showcased for the first time.”

The tyre/wheel assembly was named one of Time magazine’s innovations of the year in 2005. As a result of its development, NASA helped fund a project for Michelin to develop a highly specialised Lunar Wheel for the space agency’s latest collection of moon rover vehicles.

Introduced in 2008, the Michelin Lunar Wheel can withstand extreme conditions while maintaining flexibility and constant ground contact pressure that enables moon rovers to traverse loose soil and lunar craters. It also has a low mass yet maintains a high load capacity that is 3.3 times more efficient than the original Apollo Lunar Rover wheels.

“Field data taken last November demonstrated that the Michelin Lunar Wheel provides a 50 per cent improvement in rolling efficiency over loose soil, compared to a traditional inflated tyre,” said Dr. Rob Ambrose, Surface Mobility lead for NASA’s Lunar Architecture Team. “Michelin met or exceeded our targets in analogue lunar testing.”

Designed to provide astronauts with mobility over extreme terrain, the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover features 12 wheels driven by two electric motors through a two-speed transmission, allowing it to perform in “bulldozer” mode with up to 4000 pounds of force or cruise at up to 20 kilometres per hour. The modular design also means that the tubular frame can be fitted with several different crew and payload combinations, including the crew cabin that attaches to the rover’s chassis to form the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover configuration.

In addition to engineering wheels for the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, Michelin has developed Lunar Wheels for NASA’s Athlete moon rover designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as for the Scarab moon rover. Both are unmanned lunar vehicles designed to perform various tasks on the moon.