These lunar rover tires mimic camel hooves for maximum traction on the moon
The concept tires use a split design to mimic a hoof that won't dig too deeply into the sand. (Stan Horaczek /)When the Apollo 15 mission first brought a lunar rover to the surface of the moon in 1971, it allowed astronauts to cover more than 17 miles of terrain. That’s more than four times what previous missions covered on foot. The next year, the Apollo 17 mission earned the distance record with more than 22 miles of travel under its belt thanks to the rover. But those are short distances compared to what might happen at this end of this decade. For its 2029 expedition, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to plunk an enclosed, pressurized rover that will hold two to four astronauts on the moon’s surface that will ultimately travel more than 6,000 miles if everything goes according to plan.Toyota is working with JAXA to build...