A tiny cube made of magnolia wood is headed to the International Space Station (ISS), where it will be deployed into space to test how it withstands the extreme environment. Researchers hope this experiment will pave the way for more sustainable materials in space construction.
LignoSat, a wooden satellite developed by researchers at Kyoto University and Japanese logging company Sumitomo Forestry, launched to the ISS on Monday night on board SpaceX’s resupply mission. The satellite will be released from the space station in about one month’s time to test its durability in space, and whether wood can be used as an alternative to reduce the amount of waste littering low Earth orbit.
When one thinks of material that can survive space, wood doesn’t exactly come to mind. However, wood can do surprisingly well beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and it might also have a few advantages over traditional material used to build satellites. In March 2022, the researchers behind LignoSat exposed three types of wood to the harsh environment outside the ISS for a period of 10 months, and found that the material was not affected by the surrounding cosmic rays or incoming solar particles. The wood did not crack, peel, warp or suffer any surface damage after hanging out in low Earth orbit for nearly a year, with magnolia wood proving the most durable.
The orbital experiment paved the way for LignoSat to take flight. The satellite measures around 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) on each side and weighs just over 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms). It’s not entirely made out of wood, of course, only the parts that would usually be constructed from aluminum.
Once it’s deployed, LignoSat will be put to the test for a period of six months in low Earth orbit, with onboard instruments measuring how the magnolia wood fares in the harsh space environment.
The idea was first proposed around four years ago as a way to create a low-cost spacecraft that won’t add to the growing problem of space junk. Unlike traditional satellites, those made primarily of wood will burn up entirely when reentering through Earth’s atmosphere. Defunct satellites made from metal can break into smaller fragments, or release harmful aluminum when they burn up into the atmosphere, which has a negative environmental impact. Another advantage is that wood doesn’t block electromagnetic waves, so the satellite could house its antennas inside its wooden body rather than on the outside.
And it doesn’t just stop at satellites. The researcher at Kyoto University believe that wood can be used to build other structures in space, including human habitats on the Moon and Mars. Let’s hope the timber can survive its first six-month stay in space.
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