Hub-Less Lunar Wheel

Made entirely of cryogenic materials, our non-pneumatic tire solution is unique and based on our patent. It’s design permits unprecedented efficiency on all types of soil and it’s customization options ensure it is adapted to your needs.

The wheel is the closest equivalent of a flight wheel that can survive the lunar environment. Operating your rover with these wheels will give you the closest possible behaviour of your machine on a lunar landscape. The performance of the wheel is astonishing, even when compared with rubber tires. The wheel actually behaves like a caterpillar, embracing terrain irregularities and absorbing shocks. The resulting operation is extremely smooth, as it can also be seen on videos on our YouTube channel.

The wheel comes in 2 spring stiffness options: 06 and 08. Both 06 and 08 wheels also automatically vary their stiffness during operation: The stiffness increases when the wheel generates higher torque, in connection with the γround.

That is, the harder the soil, the higher the stiffness the wheel can reach (within a predefined range). This further increases the adaptability and efficiency of the wheel.

The 06 wheel is designed to carry a smaller load (150 N) compared to the 08 type of wheel, that can carry a 250 N load. The 06 wheel is more suitable for very loose (GRC-1) type of soils, while the 08 wheel is designed for soils bearing higher ground pressures.

The wheels have a preferential direction of motion. This is due to the automatic stiffness adaptation, which will operate correctly if the wheel is operated along its preferential direction of motion. We recommend to apply this direction as the forward direction of motion of your rover. Therefore, for use on a 4 wheel rover, you must use 2 wheels with clockwise preferential direction of motion and 2 wheels with counter-clockwise preferential direction of motion. 

Characteristics Table

Endurance and Wear

The HTR lunar wheel has been tested for a distance of 1000 km (several weeks of continuous operation at speeds of 3-7 km /h), loaded with nominal load and operating on a fully contaminated regolithic sand environment. Contrary to “engineering instinct” considerations, although the regolithic sand enters deep inside all hinges of the rim and springs, the flexibility of the rim is preserved and there is no increase in wheel stiffness due to contamination. After 1000 km, the wheel elasticity is still preserved.

Wear appears only on the grousers, but the rate of wear is such that several thousands of km are needed before significantly altering the grouser function.

Pricing

4200€ VAT – import and shipping costs excluded

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