Japan To Soon Launch World's First Wooden Satellite: Know All About It
NDTV
The satellite is being developed in an effort to test the viability of using biodegradable materials, like wood, as environmentally friendly substitutes for the metals that are currently used to construct all satellites.
Japanese scientists have developed one of the world's most unique spacecraft- a wooden satellite and they are planning to launch it soon. The LignoSat probe is made of magnolia wood, which has been shown in studies on the International Space Station (ISS) to be highly robust and crack-resistant. Plans are currently being finished for its launch on a US rocket this year, as per a report in the Guardian.
The satellite is being developed in an effort to test the viability of using biodegradable materials, like wood, as environmentally friendly substitutes for the metals that are currently used to construct all satellites. It has been built by researchers from Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry. "All the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years. Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth," Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut said.
In order to address the issue, researchers in Kyoto launched a project to assess several wood types' resilience to the demands of space launch and orbital travel. During the initial testing, which took place in labs that replicated space conditions, it was discovered that wood samples had not experienced any degradation, damage or changes in mass.
