World’s first wooden satellite built by Japanese researchers

Tokyo (Japan), 30, May. Japanese researchers have created the world’s first wooden satellite. Each part of the experimental satellite, made by scientists from Kyoto University and logging company Sumitomo Forestry Department, is only 10 cm.

The developers plan to hand over a satellite called Lignosat, made of magnolia wood, to the space agency Zaxa next week. It will be sent into space on a SpaceX rocket from Kennedy Space Center in September. From there, the satellite will be launched from the Japanese ISS Experiment Module to test its power and stability.

“The satellite will send data to researchers who can check pressure signals and how much temperature the satellite can withstand,” a spokesman for the Sumitomo Forestry Department said on Wednesday.

“Non-metallic satellites should remain mainstream,” Takao Doi, an astronaut and special professor at Kyoto University, told a news conference.

The developers say that when the device re-enters the atmosphere, the wooden material will be completely burned, so that no harmful metal particles are produced when the satellite returns to Earth. These metal particles can have a negative impact on the environment and telecommunications,” said the developers, who will announce the completion of construction of the wooden satellite on Tuesday.