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posted by janrinok on Saturday November 25 2017, @07:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the forget-the-puncture-kit,-give-me-a-welding-torch dept.

Chainmail tires re-invent the wheel to get future NASA rovers rolling.

NASA has developed chainmail tires with a memory and thinks they'll do the trick for future rovers.

As readers of The Register's coverage of the Curiosity Rover may recall, the vehicle has experienced considerable wheel damage that has led to changes to its route in 2014 and a 2017 software update to preserve the wheels and provide better grip.

Throw in the fact that it's not yet possible to send a spare wheel to Mars and have it fitted, and NASA has a clear need for more robust tires.

Enter a technology called "spring tires" that use a tubular structure of steel mesh – think tire-shaped chainmail - to cushion rovers as they roll. Spring tires have many fine qualities as the mesh forms a pattern that provides good grip on many surfaces. Mesh is also light by nature and can survive some damage. But spring tires don't deform well: if one rolls over a sharp rock, it can acquire a dent - or "plastic deformation" as NASA boffins put it.

The tires use a nickel titanium alloy that can endure plastic deformation.


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 25 2017, @10:16PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday November 25 2017, @10:16PM (#601522) Journal

    It's not an easy place for humans to get to, ala Hubble servicing missions. Or in other words, it would be further away than humans have ever traveled from Earth (although not that far, just ~four times the distance to the Moon). But robotic spacecraft? No problem.

    I hope that despite its lack of serivceable design, it could still be serviced anyway. Even if takes physically ripping into it or having the second spacecraft grab onto JWST and become the new thruster. Because if you are going to let the nearly $10 billion scope go to waste, you might as well try.

    If the scope ends up performing for a full 10 years, by the time we get to year 5 the science value of JWST should be clear in that it will be beating Hubble for many observations. It should be enough to pressure who needs to be pressured to try and make this happen.

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  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday November 26 2017, @08:56AM (1 child)

    by anubi (2828) on Sunday November 26 2017, @08:56AM (#601671) Journal

    (although not that far, just ~four times the distance to the Moon).

    Nor do we get the benefit of the Moon's gravitational field to sling us back.

    So we are gonna spend either a helluva lot of fuel braking and resuming the trip velocity back, or take a helluva lotta time creeping up to it.

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