NASA creates airless chain mail wheels that don’t forget their shape

What is a NASA space rover worth if the wheels it travels on aren’t reliable? Not much, thought NASA engineers.

After the Mars Curiosity Rover’s tires experienced much more wear and tear on the harsh terrain of Mars than anticipated, scientists were concerned that the robot wouldn’t be able to complete its mission.

Those tires were made of aluminum and scientists found small tears or breaks in them during the rover’s time on the red planet.

So they set out to redesign the tires – calling them “spring tires” – using steel chain mail to increase durability, traction and reduce its overall weight. But the steel kept deforming when they tried testing the design to see how well it handled rocky terrain while carrying heavy loads.

That’s when NASA materials scientist Santo Padula came in, suggesting a nickel titanium-based alloy instead.

“This material has a unique characteristic that allows it to do an atomic rearrangement to accommodate deformation. That lets us do 30 times the deformation than a conventional material without permanent deformation happen,” said Padula in a NASA video.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "This material has a unique characteristic that allows it to do an atomic rearrangement to accommodate deformation. That lets us do 30 times the deformation than a conventional material without permanent deformation happen," said Padula in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCZthtgql6U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA video</a>.

That means the tire can be squeezed all the way to the axel and it’ll return to its original shape.

These tires, they say, are “high-performing compliant tires” that can perform on a “Martian or lunar environment.”

Now the NASA engineers say they’re testing their tires for Earth-bound vehicles.

“We think [this new spring tire] is really going to revolutionize planetary rover tires and potentially tires for Earth, too,” said engineer Colin Creager.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We think [this new spring tire] is really going to revolutionize planetary rover tires and potentially tires for Earth, too," said engineer Colin Creager.

Video shows a spinoff version of the nickel-titanium spring tire fitted onto a Jeep driving over rocky terrain and faring quite well – but there are no current plans to release the tires to the public yet.