Tire giant Bridgestone has just announced that it is working with Teledyne Brown Engineering to build tires for NASA’s LTV manned lunar terrain vehicle. Teledyne is said to be designing and building the LTV to support future lunar exploration projects. It is expected that it will need to withstand extreme temperatures and harsh environments for long periods of time to support the astronauts’ mobility and research efforts.
(Photo from: Bridgestone)
Teledyne’s other partners include Nissan North America, Sierra Space and Textron. The partnership is designed to help build a durable lunar rover, the company said.
To enable NASA to explore more distant areas of the moon, Bridgestone, which has been in the tire business since 1931, actually began researching tires for a manned lunar rover back in 2019.
Over the years, the company has consistently worked to develop high-quality tires that go beyond the norm. At CES a few years ago, for example, we saw prototype airless/wireless-connected tires for electric cars and bicycles.
But in order to ensure the function, performance and safety of LTV tires under harsh operating conditions, Bridgestone has chosen the direction of metal vacuum tires.
The concept is currently in the development and validation phase and Bridgestone has invested its long experience on the global road for this purpose.
