The next generation of lunar exploration may not ride on bulky four-wheeled buggies but on compact two-wheeled machines balanced on fireproof, airless wheels that shrug off heat, vacuum and razor-edged dust. Engineers are converging on a new class of reconfigurable tire that can roll through flames on Earth, then head to the Moon and keep its grip on powdery regolith without ever risking a puncture. If it works as advertised, it could reshape how I think about mobility on other worlds, from nimble scouting bikes to modular robots that reconfigure their wheels on the fly.
Instead of treating tires as consumables that must be protected, this approach turns the wheel itself into a structural, load-bearing component that thrives in extremes. The concept builds on years of work on airless and superelastic designs, but the latest prototypes go further, combining shape-shifting geometry with materials that tolerate searing temperatures and brutal cold. That combination is what makes two-wheeled rovers suddenly plausible on a surface that has long punished anything with rubber and air.
Why the Moon is so hard on wheels
The Moon looks gentle in photographs, yet it is one of the harshest environments any wheel can face. There is no atmosphere, so there is no air to hold inside a traditional tire, and the surface is covered in jagged regolith that behaves like a mix of talc and broken glass. Temperatures swing from blistering heat in direct sunlight to deep cold in shadow, and radiation steadily degrades many polymers that work fine on Earth. Any wheel that depends on pressurized air or soft rubber is almost guaranteed to fail under those conditions.
That is why lunar tire designers focus on structures that can support loads without air and survive vacuum, temperature fluctuations and radiation exposure. Bridgestone, for example, has detailed how its lunar concepts rely on spoke structures and metal meshes so that tires supporting loads without air can keep working even as the surface cycles between extremes. The challenge is not only to avoid blowouts but also to maintain traction and structural integrity as the wheel grinds through abrasive dust that infiltrates every gap.
From airless to reconfigurable: what Dec’s wheel adds
Into that landscape comes a new airless wheel concept that pushes beyond simple puncture resistance. A team of scientists has developed a flexible, reconfigurable wheel, referred to as Dec’s design in the reporting, that can operate in extreme heat and still maintain its shape and grip. The core idea is to use a lattice or spoke-like structure that can deform under load, then snap back, so the wheel behaves almost like a living joint rather than a rigid hoop. That flexibility is what allows it to keep rolling even when subjected to conditions that would melt or burn conventional materials.
What makes this particular design stand out is its ability to drive through fire on Earth while preserving its mechanical performance, a capability highlighted in coverage of the airless wheel that drives through fire. That same resilience translates directly to lunar use, where intense solar heating and hot engine exhaust can create localized thermal spikes. By eliminating air and relying on a structural network, the Dec wheel can be tuned for stiffness, traction and shock absorption without the constant worry that a sharp rock or thermal crack will end the mission.
How a fireproof wheel makes two-wheeled rovers realistic
Two-wheeled rovers sound like a stunt until you consider what a reconfigurable, airless wheel can do. A bike-like vehicle or self-balancing robot has far less contact area with the ground than a four-wheeled rover, so each wheel must handle higher loads, sharper impacts and more aggressive maneuvers. If those wheels can change their effective footprint, stiffen for high-speed travel and soften for climbing over rocks, then a two-wheeled platform suddenly becomes a practical way to cover ground quickly while carrying instruments or cargo.
The Dec concept is explicitly framed as a reconfigurable wheel for lunar traversal, with the structure designed to support robust, two-wheel configurations that can adapt to terrain. Reporting on the project describes how the reconfigurable wheel for lunar traversal can maintain stability even when a vehicle leans or pivots sharply. That opens the door to compact rovers that can weave between boulders, climb steeper slopes and even right themselves after a partial tip, all while relying on wheels that are indifferent to punctures and thermal shocks.
Inside the extreme-heat design
Designing a wheel that can roll through fire is not just a party trick, it is a stress test that mimics the worst-case thermal loads a lunar rover might see near engines, power systems or sunlit metal structures. The Dec wheel uses a geometry that spreads heat through its structure instead of concentrating it in a thin rubber wall, and the airless design means there is no internal pressure to spike as temperatures rise. The result is a wheel that can be heated intensely and still retain its basic shape and springiness, which is crucial when a rover transitions from shadow to sunlight or passes near hot hardware.
A detailed description of the prototype notes that it is a reconfigurable, airless wheel designed to operate in extreme heat, with the structure maintaining performance even after exposure that would destroy conventional tires. For lunar missions, that resilience is not optional. A wheel that softens or warps under heat could throw off a rover’s balance, especially on a two-wheeled platform that depends on precise control. By proving that the wheel can survive fire, the engineers are effectively validating its ability to handle the Moon’s thermal extremes with margin to spare.
NASA’s superelastic heritage at Glenn Research Center
The Dec wheel does not emerge in a vacuum. It builds on a lineage of airless tire research that includes work at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, where engineers developed a superelastic tire based on shape memory alloy. That technology uses SMA wires that can deform significantly and then return to their original shape, giving the wheel a kind of built-in memory that replaces the role of air. Instead of a rubber sidewall flexing, the metal structure itself bends and recovers, which is ideal for repeated impacts on rocky terrain.
NASA has described how NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland developed a superelastic tire technology that uses a shape memory alloy (SMA) to rethink rover tire design. That work demonstrated that a woven metal mesh could carry loads, absorb shocks and survive extreme temperatures without air, setting a template for later designs. The Dec wheel concept appears to echo that philosophy, using structural elasticity and smart geometry rather than pressurized gas, and it shows how lessons from SMA-based tires are now being adapted to more agile, reconfigurable platforms.
Industry races to build Moon-ready tires
Government labs are not the only players in this race. Major tire manufacturers see lunar mobility as both a technical challenge and a branding opportunity, and they are investing in airless designs that can survive the Moon’s punishing environment. These efforts are not theoretical, they are tied directly to upcoming missions that will carry crewed and robotic vehicles to the lunar surface under NASA’s broader exploration plans.
One prominent example is the partnership in which the tyre giant Goodyear is teaming up with Lockheed Martin to develop airless tires for Moon Rovers for NASA’s Artemis program. That collaboration underscores how seriously industry is taking the need for robust, puncture-proof wheels that can handle vacuum, dust and temperature swings. The Dec wheel concept fits into this broader push, suggesting that future lunar vehicles may mix heritage designs from big manufacturers with more experimental, reconfigurable wheels tailored to specific mission profiles.
Metal alloys and the Goodyear approach
Goodyear’s work on lunar tires highlights another key ingredient in this story, the use of advanced metal alloys to replace rubber. For a rover that must operate in vacuum and survive repeated thermal cycling, metals that can flex without cracking are far more reliable than traditional tire compounds. These alloys can be tuned for stiffness, fatigue resistance and thermal behavior, allowing engineers to design wheels that stay flexible in cold and do not soften excessively in heat.Reporting on Goodyear’s lunar work notes that the tires will need to use special metal alloys to withstand the extreme temperature changes while still retaining flexibility. That requirement dovetails with the Dec wheel’s emphasis on reconfigurability and extreme-heat performance. Whether the structure is a woven mesh, a lattice of SMA wires or a hybrid of metals and composites, the underlying goal is the same, to create a wheel that behaves elastically across a wide temperature range without relying on trapped air.
What makes Dec’s wheel different from other lunar concepts
Bridgestone, Goodyear and NASA’s Glenn Research Center have all focused on airless, load-bearing structures, but the Dec wheel adds a twist by emphasizing dynamic reconfiguration. Instead of a fixed tread pattern and stiffness profile, the wheel can change its effective geometry as it rolls, which is particularly valuable for a two-wheeled rover that must constantly adjust to maintain balance. That adaptability could allow a single vehicle to switch between high-speed cruising and careful obstacle negotiation without swapping hardware.
Community discussions of the prototype describe a reconfigurable, airless wheel designed specifically to operate in extreme heat and support two-wheeled lunar rovers. That focus on a minimal wheel count sets it apart from more conservative four- or six-wheel designs. By proving that a pair of such wheels can keep a vehicle upright and mobile on rough terrain, the Dec concept challenges long-held assumptions about how many contact points a lunar rover really needs.
From lab demo to lunar deployment
For now, the fireproof, airless wheel is a prototype tested in controlled environments, but the path to the Moon is becoming clearer. The same properties that let it roll through flames on Earth, structural elasticity, thermal resilience and puncture immunity, are exactly what mission planners want for future rovers. As Artemis missions ramp up and commercial landers proliferate, there will be more opportunities to fly experimental hardware alongside proven systems, and a compact two-wheeled scout with Dec-style wheels is an attractive candidate.
The broader ecosystem of lunar tire research, from Dec’s airless concept to Bridgestone’s spoke structures, Goodyear’s metal alloys and NASA’s SMA-based superelastic meshes, suggests that the age of rubber and air is ending for off-world mobility. I see the fireproof, reconfigurable wheel as a bridge between those strands, a design that borrows from each and then pushes further toward agility and adaptability. If it reaches the lunar surface, it will not just keep rovers moving, it will expand the kinds of vehicles engineers dare to send, including the two-wheeled explorers that once seemed like science fiction.
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