Fort Wayne Metals, NASA partner on rover tire alloy
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Fort Wayne Metals said Thursday it is partnering with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio to research shape memory alloy material technology that would be used on future moon rovers.
The company said the collaboration includes studying anticipated operating conditions on the moon and developing initial Nitinol materials for lunar applications.
Nitinol is a shape memory alloy that Fort Wayne Metals said is superelastic “because of its unique ability to undergo deformation and return to its original shape.” The tough, lightweight material is designed to perform various tasks across a wide range of temperatures and conditions.
Fort Wayne Metals and NASA Glenn have previously collaborated on the use of Nitinol materials in various applications, including prototype spring tires for Mars rovers.
“Nitinol materials have proven they enhance our ability to build innovative, durable tires for Mars, but the moon presents an entirely different set of challenges,” Dr. Santo Padula, materials research engineer at NASA Glenn, said in a news release. “We will need to take what we’ve learned developing advanced shape memory alloy tires for Martian conditions and adjust our approach to ensure these materials can support human and robotic exploration of the moon’s South Pole.”
The company said engineers from both partners are experimenting and chemically engineering future Nitinol materials to adapt to the extreme cold and unknown terrain features of the moon’s South Pole.
Fort Wayne Metals expects to have a commercial supply of lunar environment-ready Nitinol materials by 2026 for future lunar rover providers.
The company declined to provide the financial investment in the project.