Dec
14
2010
Rover round-up – The $11.5m bean-bag wheels
What price a pair of lunar wheels? Try $US11.5m.
At least, that is if the rover has been ordered by the Canadian Space Agency and you been tasked to tackle the terrain of the Moon and Mars.
It’s a hefty chunk of GLXP prizemoney, but this $US11.5m rover has no ordinary wheels, either.
McGill University mechanical engineering professor Peter Radziszewski and his team plan to base the wheels on a model they’re calling the “i-ring”.
It’s a fabric wheel filled with particulate and it’s caught the eye of the CSA for its ability to help rovers climb obstacles larger than their individual wheels.
