Japanese Profeser Tries to Make Paper Tires for Moon Exploration

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You know the lunar rover, the vehicle that cruises on the moon surface? A land of wood and paper, Japan now has a unique offer to make to make future lunar excavation a lot easier and "lighter" too.

Professor Hiroaki Tsunoda of Tokai University, an expert in space structures engineering, has an ambitious study going to develop a new tire to fit the lunar rover.

Japan has a traditional method of paper-making and several localities stand out for their own skills. One of such localities is Inshu, roughly eastern part of Tottori prefecture today. Inshu-made paper "Inshu Washi" is the first traditional Japanese paper ever designated "Traditional Craftwork". Inshu Washi is sturdy and elastic and best suited for lanterns. One of the best-known sightseeing sites, the huge paper lantern at the gate of Asakusa's Sensouji Temple, is an artwork made of Inshu Washi. Now, this Inshu Washi could very well be a breakthrough in modern space engineering. Well, how would that be?

Professor Tsunoda is developing a tire made of Inshu Washi to mount the lunar rover. A spherical paper lantern manufactured by a Tottori paper-mill "Taniguchi Aoya Washi" gave him an idea - idea to have one of those skeleton-less paper lanterns folded and transported to space. Inshu Washi is sufficiently light and could be the lightest tire ever mounted on the rover.

The Tottori paper-mill began groping in 1989 onwards for a desperate way out of the slugging market of traditional Japanese papers. They developed and patented a unique skill of fabricating "dimensional" lantern without a skeleton. In 2005, a skeleton-less lampshade was marketed, awarded Good Design of the Year and orders flooded in from overseas.

In close collaboration with researchers from JAXA, Professor Tsunoda is working on a two-wheeler, 500-800 grams in weight. He assures the paper tires would easily withstand the weight.

The owner of the paper-mill beams as he says a huge market is opening for the hitherto sluggish market for Japanese traditional papers.