Most satellites in orbit right now have been made from metals such as steel or titanium. It is about resistant materials and lightweight that aim to keep the internal components of these devices safe from the adverse conditions of space without increasing weight.
A group of researchers from Kyoto University led by astronaut Takao Doi has an alternative in mind. What if instead of using the aforementioned metals we used wood? Wood on our planet can degrade easily, but in space it could be surprisingly durable.
The first wooden satellite in space
Doi has long been convinced that wooden satellites are part of a promising future. As if that were not enough, he ventures to point out that satellites with alloys could stop being used in the future. Your ideas will finally meet reality. After years of work, LignoSat is already in space.
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We are talking about the world’s first fashion satellite. It is a CubeSat manufactured in Japan weighing just over 900 grams that arrived on November 5 at the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon ship, and that within approximately a month will be released into space.
Professor Koji Murata, one of the members of the project
If everything goes according to plan, LignoSat will be launched into orbit from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the ISS. Although it is very small in size, it incorporates electronics inside that will be responsible for recording parameters such as structural stress of woodtemperature and radiation conditions.
The ultimate goal of the experiment is to test whether wood can truly be considered a space-grade material. And it is not just any type of wood. Researchers have chosen honoki wood, coming from the magnolia tree historically used to make samurai swords.
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The choice of wood type was not taken lightly. In 2022, Kyoto University sent several wooden blocks to the ISS (magnolia, cherry and birch). They were subjected to the extreme conditions of outer space for several months. The data was analyzed and magnolia wood turned out to be the most resistant.
Images | Kyoto University/JAXA (1, 2, 3)
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The news
Researchers have just sent the first wooden satellite into space: they aim to change the rules of the game
was originally published in
WorldOfSoftware
by Javier Marquez.
