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How to avoid a puncture on the Moon


Giant tyre firms are testing tyres that can survive conditions on the Moon and Mars.

Since extreme temperatures and cosmic rays break down rubber or turn it to a brittle glass, metal alloys and high-performance plastic are chief contenders for airless space tyres. "In general, metallic or carbon fibre-based materials are used for these wheels," says Pietro Baglion, team leader of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosalind Franklin Mission, which aims to send its own rover to Mars by 2028. "Fuse these and it makes a rubber-acting metal that can bend all these different ways, and it will always stretch back to its original shape, says Earl Patrick Cole, chief executive of The Smart Tire Company.

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