2023-06-20 08:32:32
The earth wheels that we use are absolutely not adapted to the lunar environment. Venturi Lab, in partnership with Venturi Astrolab, is developing the two-tonne Flex lunar rover intended to travel more than a thousand kilometres. For this, it will be equipped with four hyperdeformable wheels, unique in the world. This revolutionary wheel system, which required the invention of materials, was designed and manufactured at Venturi Lab, in Switzerland and Monaco. We can talk about disruptive technology.
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In the field of robotic robotic exploration with rovers, one of the main concerns of the engineers who develop them concerns the wheels. And history does not prove them wrong. From the USSR’s first lunar rover in the 1970s, to NASA’s Mars rovers, to the ApolloApollo 15 moon buggy, wheel reliability has always been a concern. Without a spinning wheel, there is no mission! However, if overall most of the wheels of the various rovers behaved well, some encountered technical and structural problems, forcing the mission managers to adapt their operation in order to avoid any risk of fatal failure in the mission.
Where are Venturi Lab’s lunar and Mars rovers?
The announced return of humans to the Moon will be accompanied by a myriad of exploration rovers, some of which will be more like quads, while others will be habitable. During the 54th Paris Air Show which is currently being held, Venturi Lab took advantage of this international showcase to present a unique, hyperdeformable lunar wheel. We were there and met the very enthusiastic technical and management team.
This wheel will equip the Venturi Astrolab Flex rover, a vehicle dedicated to the transport of payloads, piloted by an astronautastronaut. It will be deposited on the Moon, at the South Pole, by the end of the decade aboard SpaceX’s StarshipStarship during the Artemis III mission.
A disruptive technology
This wheel is a world first, a ” turning point in the history of the space industry », does not hesitate to write Venturi Lab in its communiqué. The company has designed a wheel with a diameter of 930 millimeters with a rather surprising architecture. Its structure is made up of a complex system of 192 cables that act as spokes, a tread made flexible by the invention of a material material and an outer crown equipped with springs. This wheel represents a breakthrough that is just as major as that which was, in the 19th century, the rubber-rubber tire (then the pneumatic-pneumatic tire) around the rims.
“This wheel is a world first, a turning point in the history of the space industry”
This wheel has the ability to deform very strongly while being durable and robust. To understand this architectural choice, it is necessary to know that on the Moon gravitygravity is six times less. Riding on the Moon is therefore very different from riding on Earth or Mars due to a surface that can be loose, a bit like flour. To this problem of gravity are added others such as radiation, dust but also, and this may surprise, temperatures. Flex will evolve in an extreme environment where the temperatures will be permanently negative, from -90°C to -230°C.
Earth wheels are not usable on the Moon
Today, there is no wheel capable of overcoming all these constraints. If we were to use land wheels on the Moon, they would have to be very large so as not to sink into the ground and lose traction. Plus, the frozen lunar terrains would make them brittle like glass! Hence this unprecedented road which is not only designed to overcome these constraints but also to meet the needs of NASA, which wants robust wheels capable of “turning round” for at least a good thousand kilometres. The Apollo 15 buggy had a service life of only 80 kilometers. She also wants these wheels to run in very low temperature environments, over -200°C! These are regions permanently in the shadow of the SunSun, and therefore of great scientific interest.
Very strong manufacturing constraints in terms of durability therefore durability, but also comfort for the astronauts on board the rover. The four wheels supporting the two tons of vehicle mass (payload included) will absorb the irregularities of the ground by deforming and this, while Flex will move at 20 km/h, against only a few meters per hour, when it is not per month, on Mars). They must also be able to withstand road shocks.
Note that NASA has selected Venturi Astrolab to test and analyze the Venturi Lab wheel at Nasa Glenn Research Center (Cleveland) and at Nasa Johnson Space Center (Houston).
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