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Goodyear Joins Lockheed Martin to Commercialize Lunar Mobility
Vehicle Tires Designed for Extreme Temperatures in One Sixth Gravity on Crater-Filled Terrain AKRON, Ohio, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Goodyear Tire &
About this update from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
[{"type":"text","content":"Vehicle Tires Designed for Extreme Temperatures in One Sixth Gravity on Crater-Filled Terrain\nAKRON, Ohio, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT) supplied essential products for NASA's Apollo program, including the Apollo 11 mission which landed on the Moon 53 years ago today. The company will continue that tradition—focusing on lunar vehicle tires—by joining Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) in its development of a lunar mobility vehicle.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nSince Apollo, Goodyear continued innovating alongside NASA to advance designs for a lunar vehicle tire. The team of companies intends to be the first to establish extended-use commercial vehicle operations on the Moon. Goodyear brings its vast expertise in a mission-critical component to traverse the lunar surface, tires.\n\"NASA's Artemis program to live and work on the Moon has a clear need for lunar surface transportation that we intend to meet with vehicles driven by astronauts or operated autonomously without crew,\" said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin. \"We're developing this new generation of lunar mobility vehicle to be available to NASA and for commercial companies and even other space agencies to support science and human exploration. This approach exemplifies NASA's desire for industry to take the lead with commercial efforts that enable the agency to be one of many customers.\"\nGoodyear is drawing from its advanced airless tire technology used on Earth with micro-mobility, autonomous shuttles and passenger vehicles, to advance lunar mobility and withstand the challenging conditions on the Moon. The companies are already applying existing expertise to the project including testing concepts in lunar soil test beds.\n\"Everything we learn from making tires for the Moon's extremely difficult operating environment will help us make better airless tires on Earth,\" said Chris Helsel, senior vice president, Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer at Goodyear. \"This will contribute to our end goal of enabling mobility no matter where it takes place. Just as important, it is an honor to write history with this prestigious company who knows how to make giant leaps in exploration and mobility.\" \nThe Apollo lunar rovers were purposely built for just a few days of use on excur...