Bridgestone joins space mission

A planned Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) moon rover is likely to be rolling along on Bridgestone tyres.

Bridgestone Corporation has been added to an international space exploration mission with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corporation and will research tyre performance for the six-wheeled manned and pressurised rovers.

Bridgestone plans to develop a contact patch capable of functioning in the challenging mobility conditions experienced on the lunar surface.

“We are honoured to partner with JAXA and Toyota in the challenge of space exploration,” says Bridgestone Americas chief technology officer Nizar Trigui.

“We believe that our technical capabilities allow us to explore the development of a tyre that is capable of functioning even in the harshest of conditions experienced on the surface of the moon and bring us to a higher level of mobility for mankind.”

The space mission goals include expanding the domain of human activity and developing intellectual property on space exploration.

Toyota hopes to put the two to four person self-contained rover capable of doing 10,000km on the moon by 2029.