The Spring Tyre consist of 800 load bearing springs that contours to the surface on which it’s driven to provide traction. Energy used to deform the tyre is returned when the springs rebound, while the tyre also doesn’t heat up like regular air-inflated tyres. It is capable of carrying larger vehicles over greater distances than the previous wire mesh tyre, which was used on the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). 

 

This new tyre could allow for broader exploration and the eventual development and maintenance of planetary outposts. 

 

According to Goodyear engineers, development of the new Spring Tyre were driven by the fact that traditional rubber, pneumatic (air-filled) tyres used on Earth have little utility on the moon. This is because rubber properties vary significantly between the extreme cold and hot temperatures experienced in the shaded and directly sunlit areas of the moon.  Furthermore, unfiltered solar radiation degrades rubber, and pneumatic tyres pose an unacceptable risk of deflation.

 

The tyres were tested vigorously at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas at the “Rock yard” where they were installed on the Lunar Electric Rover test vehicle, eventually receiving the all clear. 

 

The R&D 100 Awards, known as the "Oscars of Innovation", has identified and celebrated revolutionary technologies since 1963. The awards cover industry, academia and government-sponsored research and looks for innovative ideas in testing equipment, new materials, chemistry, biomedical products, consumer items and high-energy physics. 

 

Along with the spring loaded tyre, other winners at the R&D 100 Awards were SENSIMED AG for its SENSIMED Triggerfish, Quesar Geophysical Technology for its QMax EM3 Reciever and Sandia National Laboratories for its Micro Power Source.