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Reinventing the Wheel

Planning a trip to the Moon? Mars? You’re going to need good tires…

Exploration requires mobility. And whether you’re on Earth or as far away as the Moon or Mars, you need good tires to get your vehicle from one place to another. Our decades-long work developing tires for space exploration has led to new game-changing designs and materials. Yes, we’re reinventing the wheel—here’s why.

Wheels on the Moon

Early tire designs were focused on moving hardware and astronauts across the lunar surface. The last NASA vehicle to visit the Moon was the Lunar Roving Vehicle during our Apollo missions. The vehicle used four large flexible wire mesh wheels with stiff inner frames. We used these Apollo era tires as the inspiration for new designs using newer materials and technology to better function on a lunar surface.

Up springs a new idea

During the mid-2000s, we worked with industry partner Goodyear to develop the Spring Tire, an airless compliant tire that consists of several hundred coiled steel wires woven into a flexible mesh, giving the tires the ability to support high loads while also conforming to the terrain. The Spring Tire has been proven to generate very good traction and durability in soft sand and on rocks.

Spring Tires for Mars

A little over a year after the Mars Curiosity Rover landed on Mars, engineers began to notice significant wheel damage in 2013 due to the unexpectedly harsh terrain. That’s when engineers began developing new Spring Tire prototypes to determine if they would be a new and better solution for exploration rovers on Mars.

In order for Spring Tires to go the distance on Martian terrain, new materials were required. Enter nickel titanium, a shape memory alloy with amazing capabilities that allow the tire to deform down to the axle and return to its original shape.

These tires can take a lickin’

After building the shape memory alloy tire, Glenn engineers sent it to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Life Test Facility. It performed impressively on the punishing track.

Why reinvent the wheel? It’s worth it.

New, high performing tires would allow lunar and Mars rovers to explore greater regions of the surface than currently possible. They conform to the terrain and do not sink as much as rigid wheels, allowing them to carry heavier payloads for the same given mass and volume. Also, because they absorb energy from impacts at moderate to high speeds, there is potential for use on crewed exploration vehicles which are expected to move at speeds significantly higher than the current Mars rovers.

Airless tires on Earth

Maybe. Recently, engineers and materials scientists have been testing a spinoff tire version that would work on cars and trucks on Earth. Stay tuned as we continue to push the boundaries on traditional concepts for exploring our world and beyond.  

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

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“Key realities about autism, vaccines, vaccine-injury compensation, Thimerosal, and autism-related research.”

-By Paul G. Kinga, PhD & Gary S. Goldmanb , PhD

Lobbying, to most people, looks like bribery — the lobbyist who refuses to contribute to the reelection campaign isn’t going to get a meeting, much less an ally.

No member of congress wants to feel bought. What they want to feel is convinced. It’s the lobbyist’s job to make the members of congress ‘feel’ like they’re making the right decision, not just the decision they were paid to make.

Lobbying, persuasion, or interest representation is the act of attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of officials in their daily life, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator’s constituencies, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within their electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation, regulation, or other government decisions, actions, or policies on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job (for instance, a CEO meeting with a representative about a project important to their company, or an activist meeting with their legislator in an unpaid capacity). Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential.

More research below:

How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy Is Lobbying Good or Bad? Transparency and the Lobby Problem The Lobbying Problem and How We Can Fix It Corporate Lobbying: Bad for Business, Bad for America Influence & Lobbying Lobbying wiki Lobbying: The Scourge of Good Government What is shadow lobbying? How influence peddlers shape policy in the dark The American lobbying industry is completely out of control Lobbyists Explained Lobbyist Documentary Lobbyists in America 5 Crazy Facts About Lobbyists – End corruption. Defend the Republic

“As of a recent repealing of a law by President Trump, the cause of "net neutrality” is now in danger. Without this law, internet service providers would be able to up speeds for certain websites for an extra price meaning websites such as Netflix could pay a huge sum of money to have absolutely rapid website speeds while startup eCommerce businesses have trouble attracting customers with slow website load speeds. This endangers the entire cause of net neutrality, and it’s up to us, the American people to stop net neutrality from being taken away from us. #SaveNetNeutrality" - Addison Miller.

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Bi’s & Tri’s Friday!

Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press:

Lie back on a flat bench. Using a close grip (around shoulder width), lift the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms locked. This will be your starting position.

As you breathe in, come down slowly until you feel the bar on your middle chest. Tip:Make sure that - as opposed to a regular bench press - you keep the elbows close to the torso at all times in order to maximize triceps involvement.

After a second pause, bring the bar back to the starting position as you breathe out and push the bar using your triceps muscles. Lock your arms in the contracted position, hold for a second and then start coming down slowly again. Tip: It should take at least twice as long to go down than to come up.

Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.

When you are done, place the bar back in the rack.

Caution: If you are new at this exercise, it is advised that you use a spotter. If no spotter is available, then be conservative with the amount of weight used. Also, beware of letting the bar drift too far forward. You want the bar to fall on your middle chest and nowhere else.

Variations: This exercise can also be performed with an e-z bar using the inner handle as well as dumbbells, in which case the palms of the hands will be facing each other.

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“Happiness is not about always getting what we want, it is about embracing who we really are. Accepting this profound truth is self-realization.”  -Anon I mus (Spiritually Anonymous)