South Korea is preparing to send a lander to the moon by 2030, and researchers are developing an unusual rover they hope will join the mission. Its defining feature is a set of deployable wheels inspired by origami and designed for difficult lunar terrain.

The project is being developed at the Aerospace Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (ARML) at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST). Researchers have collaborated with the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL), a private space robotics company, for three years.

“The wheels are made from multiple flexible strips that interweave,” PhD candidate Seong-bin Lee of ARML told CNN. The design takes inspiration from a Da Vinci bridge, which is held together through gravity, geometry and friction rather than conventional supports.

The team combined that principle with the folding capabilities associated with origami. The result is an airless wheel that can be compacted for launch and deployed after reaching the lunar surface.

“The key point of origami is the feature of shape-changing ability,” Lee added. The wheel can shrink to 9 inches in diameter so it can fit inside a lunar lander, then expand to more than double that size on the moon.

Dae-Young Lee, an associate professor and director of ARML at KAIST, supervised the project. He explained that conventional mechanisms capable of changing shape tend to require more mass, volume and complexity while also being less reliable.

Those limitations are particularly undesirable for a rover intended to operate in space. According to Dae-Young Lee, the origami system removes that complexity while still allowing the wheels to deploy when needed.

The wheels are constructed from fire resistant, high carbon steel that can bend and flex more easily than conventional rover wheels. That flexibility could help a rover cross the moon’s challenging surface while enduring temperature swings of more than 500° Fahrenheit.

Researchers hope the wheel technology will eventually carry a rover into lunar lava tubes. These underground tunnel systems were formed by ancient volcanic activity, but their steep slopes and drop offs make them difficult to enter and navigate.

The lava tubes could one day shelter human colonies from cosmic radiation and extreme temperatures. Reaching them, however, will demand a rover capable of handling terrain that presents serious obstacles to conventional designs.

The team has tested the wheels in caves and lava tubes on Jeju Island in South Korea. Researchers have also evaluated a smaller prototype in laboratory environments involving lunar regolith, extreme temperatures and mud.

Lunar regolith is the moon’s dusty surface layer, making it an important part of the testing program described by the team. These experiments allow researchers to study how the compact wheel behaves across different surfaces and conditions.

The project’s next step is to develop a rover capable of thinking for itself. Yiseub Yun, who is working on his master’s degree at KAIST, is leading efforts to use artificial intelligence to optimize the design and teach the rover how to move.

Yun is drawing on reinforcement learning, in which AI learns through trial and error. His goal is to create a framework that can determine the optimal robot shape and ideal number of wheels for navigating obstacles across the lunar landscape.

“I think that adaptiveness of AI can help space exploration,” Yun said. The artificial intelligence component is intended to complement the physical adaptability created by the folding wheel design.

The work comes as Korea pursues increasingly ambitious space goals. In its 2027 budget plan, Seoul is seeking a record 1.65 trillion won, approximately $1.2 billion, for space development, representing a 47% increase over 2026.

The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), established in 2024, manages the effort and aims to turn the country into one of the world’s top five aerospace powers. The rover wheel initiative is among several KAIST projects receiving KASA funding.

The project is also motivating participating students to embrace difficult technical challenges. Seong-bin Lee said, “I admired those who challenge themselves, even despite knowing that it’s going to be a tough path. And I’m striving to be like them.”