Not many people know that every time we drive our car in winter, we are using a technology developed for NASA! It’s a little surprising, but it’s true. Indeed, if today it is possible for us to drive on icy roads safely, it is partly because of the famous space race of the middle of the last century. After beating their eternal Soviet rivals to the moon for the first time, the U.S. agency now wanted to go back, and this time with more equipment.
Bad news, though, it is impossible to maneuver a vehicle to carry that equipment with conventional tires in such cold conditions. Just like trying to drive in icy temperatures with summer tires, the “rickshaw”, as it was called, would have lost all its grip in the lunar climate! The only solution: contact the mythical Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company…
Goodyear, symbol of innovation
One of the first tire companies founded in the United States in 1898, Goodyear was already the flagship of innovation in the rubber world in the 1970s. So it was a natural choice for them to take on one of the most important technological challenges of the time. For the Apollo 14 mission, they had to find a way to make the tires on the lunar tool cart soft to more than 100 degrees below zero.
As they still do today, but without all our modern technology, Goodyear engineers set to work, adjusting the rubber composition and researching new additives. Within a year, the new material was ready for testing, and in February 1971, it finally touched the lunar surface for the first time. The mission was accomplished!
A new rubber on the market
With the resounding success of their new innovation, Goodyear executives were quick to bring safer winter tires to the general public. By the mid-1970s, their discovery had already revolutionized the field, signaling the end of the traditional studded tire. They also incorporated another space technology into their new product, used by the Johnson Space Center in the parachutes of their Mars probes. Five times stronger than steel, the core of Goodyear tires was much stronger than the average at the time.
To this day, it’s the technology developed by the brilliant minds at Goodyear and NASA that allows us to drive on icy roads with confidence. Whether it’s Comfortdrive, Wrangler Duratrac or Eagle, every Goodyear tire available at Blackcircles.ca is a testament to the Goodyear philosophy of going the extra mile.
