World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
www.abc.net.au
The palm-sized LignoSat is tasked with demonstrating the cosmic potential of the renewable material as humans explore living in space.

The world’s first wooden satellite, built in Japan, is being flown to the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission.

LignoSat will be released into orbit about 400km above the Earth, with researchers hoping it will prove wood is a space-grade material.

LignoSat will stay in orbit for six months, with the electronic components onboard measuring how wood endures the extreme environment of space.

Edit: added sunmary

  • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
    3·
    3 days ago

    It’s interesting. I wonder about how it holds up essentially being freeze-dried in space, but things with a short lifetime might be viable. Japan has always done interesting things with woodworking, so it seems a natural step. I used to be friends with a guy who directed funding to various projects and start-ups here in Japan and wish I could pick his brain about this (though I don’t believe he did anything with this).