Japan to launch first wooden satellite in February

2023-11-17 14:23:48

Lignosat Illustration – KYOTO UNIVERSITY

MADRID, 17 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Kyoto University’s Space Wood Laboratory is developing the world’s first artificial wooden satellite. Announces its launch for February 2024.

LignoSat is a satellite the size of a coffee cup made with magnolia wood in a joint project with the Japanese space agency (JAXA) and NASA.

Wood does not burn or rot in the lifeless vacuum of space, but is incinerated to fine ash upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, making it a surprisingly useful and biodegradable material for future satellites. After successfully testing their wood samples aboard the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year, Scientists believe the test satellite is ready to launch.

“Three wood samples were tested and showed no deformation after exposure to space,” the researchers said in a statement in May, cited by Space.com. “Despite the extreme environment of outer space involving significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and dangerous solar particles for 10 months, testing confirmed that there is no decomposition or deformation, such as cracks, warping, peeling or damage to the surface “.

To decide which wood to use, scientists sent three wood samples (magnolia, cherry or birch) to the ISS to be stored in a module exposed to space. The researchers decided on magnolia because it is less likely to split or break during manufacturing.

More than 9,300 tons (8,440 metric tons) of space objects, including space debris such as inoperative satellites and pieces of spent rocket stages, currently orbit Earth. But the shiny metals they are made of, such as lightweight titanium and aluminum, increase the overall brightness of the night sky by more than 10% in large parts of the planet, creating ambient light pollution that makes distant spatial phenomena more difficult to detect.

Spacecraft made of metal are also expensive and pose a threat to the ISS, other human-carrying spacecraft, and, if they are large enough to survive reentry, to people on Earth as well. According to the researchers, wooden satellites like LignoSat should, in theory, be less harmful than space debris.