World's first wooden satellite arrives at ISS for key orbital test

This new spaceflight technology has a very retro feel.

The world’s first wooden satellite, a small Japanese spacecraft called LignoSat, has arrived in International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday November 5 aboard a EspaceX Dragon cargo capsule.

LignoSat measures just 10 centimeters on each side, but it could have a big impact on spaceflight and exploration in the future.

“Although some of you might think that wood in space seems a bit counterintuitive, the researchers hope that this investigation will demonstrate that a wooden satellite can be more durable and less environmentally polluting than conventional ones. conventional satellites,” said Meghan Everett, deputy chief scientist at NASAIt is International Space Station program, said during a press briefing Monday, November 4, a few hours before takeoff of the Dragon capsule.

Conventional satellites are mainly made of aluminum. When they burn Earth’s atmosphere At the end of their life, they generate aluminum oxides, which can alter the thermal balance of the planet and damage its protective ozone layer.

These impacts become increasingly concerning as the orbital population increases, thanks to the rise of megaconstellations like EspaceXis constantly growing Star link broadband network, which currently includes around 6,500 active satellites.

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Wooden satellites like LignoSat – which replaces aluminum with magnolia wood – could be part of the solution in the future; they would not release such harmful pollutants into the atmosphere when they fell back to Earth, mission team members said.

“Metal satellites may be banned in the future,” said retired Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, an aerospace engineer now a professor at Kyoto University. told Reuters. “If we can prove that our first wooden satellite works, we want to present it to Elon MuskIt’s SpaceX.”

LignoSat, developed by researchers at Kyoto University and Tokyo-based forestry company Sumitomo Forestry, will soon have the opportunity to prove itself.

In about a month, the cubesat will be deployed into orbit from the Kibo module of the ISS. If all goes according to plan, its onboard electronics will record and transmit key health data home over the next six months.

“Student researchers will measure the temperature and deformation of the wooden structure and see how they might change in the vacuum environment of space, as well as atomic conditions of oxygen and radiation,” Everett said.

Members of the LignoSat team also say a successful test could have implications far beyond Earth’s orbit.

“It may sound outdated, but wood is actually cutting-edge technology as civilization heads to the Moon and March“Expansion into space could reinvigorate the timber industry,” Kenji Kariya, director of the Sumitomo Tsukuba forestry research institute, told Reuters.

Originally published on Espace.com.

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World’s first wooden satellite arrives at ISS for key orbital test

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