By: Benjamin Raven | braven@mlive.com

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One could believe that the innovative staff at NASA's Glenn Research Center is watching a little too much "Game of Thrones" based on its new tire that more closely resembles a knight's meshy armor than that of a tire.

The latest tire -- the Superelastic Tire -- represents an evolution of the U.S. space agency's spring tire that was originally invented back in 2009 through a collaboration between NASA and Goodyear inspired by the Apollo mission's lunar tires.

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The new Superelastic Tire was developed with future Mars missions in mind, but NASA says in a news release that it could serve as a potential alternative to pneumatic tires in use here on Earth.

"The novel use of shape memory alloys capable of undergoing high strain as load bearing components, instead of typical elastic materials, results in a tire that can withstand excessive deformation without permanent damage," NASA writes in a release. "Using shape memory alloy as radial stiffening elements can also increase the load carrying capacity of the tire.

"The Superelastic Tire offers traction equal or superior to conventional pneumatic tires and eliminates the possibility of puncture failures, thereby improving automobile safety. This tire design also eliminates the need for an inner frame which both simplifies and lightens the tire/wheel assembly."

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The Glenn Research Center reports that it believes future application of this new tire could be found on ATVs, military vehicles, construction vehicles, regular automobile tires, aircraft tires, and more.

NASA touts this springy, meshy tire as being safe by eliminating the risk of puncture failure, being able to survive excessive deformation and a Rolodex of terrain while coming lightweight without an inner frame.

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NASA says that its researchers at the Glenn have been focusing on tire development for around a decade, which has included looking back on tire designs from the 1960s that were originally used on the Moon's surface. The space agency says that while it was creating new rovers to send to the Red Planet, they were also considering a return to the Moon.

Engineers as the Glenn went as far as rebuilding Apollo-era tires and beginning to develop new designs and functionality. This is what led to the NASA-Goodyear Spring Tire creation in the mid- to late 200s, which consisted of hundreds of steel wires woven into a flexible mesh.

What led to the creation of the Spring Tire was the fact that a little more than a year after the Mars Curiosity Rover touched down on the surface of Mars in 2013, NASA engineers started to notice deterioration of its tires.

" ... engineers began to notice significant wheel damage in 2013 due to the unexpectedly harsh terrain, causing concern about the ability of the rover to drive far enough to complete its intended mission," NASA says.

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The damage to the Mars Curiosity Rover's tires in 2013.

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NASA-Goodyear's Spring Tire.

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As for how NASA landed on its new Superelastic Tire, an evolution from the Spring Tire, the space agency says that while the tires performed well in tests that the steel wires started to deform after rolling over simulated Martian terrain at its Jet Propulsion Lab.

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Photo courtesy of NASA from the Spring Tire's durability testing.

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Photo courtesy of NASA from the Spring Tire's durability testing.

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Looking forward to the future deployment of the new Superelastic Tire, NASA says that it would allow its rovers to further explore either the surface of Mars or Earth's Moon and carry a heavier payload.

"Lastly, because the compliant tires can absorb energy from impacts at moderate to high speeds, they can be used on crewed exploration vehicles which are expected to move at speeds significantly higher than the current Mars rovers," NASA says.

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NASA

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Related links:

Pence says US will return to Moon with main goal 'to send Americans to Mars'

NASA's next Mars rover will have 23 'eyes' as it searches for 'potential life'

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