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<strong><br /></strong> <hr style="color:#ffffff" /> <img src="http://www.gizmag.com/pictures/10997_15020983115_9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br /> <br /> <img src="http://www.gizmag.com/pictures/10997_15020983200_48.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br /> <br /> Link....<br /> <br /> <div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px">Quote:</div><p> <strong>Michelin Tweel becomes Lunar Wheel for NASA Lunar Rover</strong><br /> <br /> February 15, 2009 The Tweel is an non-pneumatic Tire/WhEEL combo which offers an idiot-proof, no-maintenance, easily-retreadable tire for consumers and the holy grail for the military - a tire that can't be “shot out.” You won't see the Tweel on your sadmobile any time soon because it has noise, vibration, heat and wear problems at highway speeds but its unique construction enables it to be specifically engineered with ideal characteristics for highly specialised low speed applications. The ultimate badge of credibility was bestowed on the design when it rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue on NASA’s Small Pressurized Lunar Rover prototype during the Obama presidential inauguration.<br /> <br /> Despite the fact that Michelin has been supplying space shuttle tires for more than two decades, years, NASA's choice of Tweel-based technology in the development of new wheels for its lunar vehicles validates the claims Michelin has been making about the ability to engineer “designer properties” into its Tweel for specific applications.<br /> <br /> NASA's testing and authentication procedures are among the most exacting known to man – it aims to deliver the very best people, procedures, materials and technologies for each space mission so in our mind, the design of the Michelin Lunar Wheel validates the Tweel's design. Sure, it has been demonstrated on a range of specialist machines designed for low-speed applications such as earthmoving and construction equipment and mobility aids, but even the Tweel's appearance on Dean Kamen's Segway, Centaur and iBOT could have been a publicity-inspired gimmick. Their appearance on a Lunar Rover is most definitely NOT a gimmick.<br /> <br /> The Michelin Lunar Wheel underwent testing in Hawaii from October 31 to November 13, 2008 as part of NASA’s lunar analogue testing and evaluation program. The terrain, rock distribution and soil composition of Hawaii’s Big Island provide a high-quality simulation of the lunar polar region.<br /> <br /> Made of composite materials, the structurally supported tyre/wheel assembly was jointly developed by Michelin’s European and North American research centres and Michelin claims its Tweel technology will help meet NASA’s mobility needs for both manned and unmanned missions to the moon over the next decade.<br /> /></p><p>> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>