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This launch is a preliminary test of using wood in research. Month and Mars The compact device, palm-sized, weighs one kilogram.
The LignoSat satellite, developed by Kyoto University and the construction company Sumitomo Forestry, will be delivered to the International Space Station as part of a SpaceX mission. It will then be placed into orbit at an altitude of about 400 km above the Earth, reports CNN .
The LignoSat spacecraft, named after the Latin word for “wood,” is designed to demonstrate the space potential of renewable materials.
“Thanks to wood, a material that we can produce ourselves, we will be able to build houses and live and work in space forever,” said Takao Doi, an astronaut and researcher of human activity in space at Kyoto University.
Wood is a cosmic material.
With a 50-year plan for planting trees and building wooden houses on the Moon and Mars, the Doi team has developed a NASA-certified project. wooden satellite The goal of the scientists is to prove that wood is a cosmic material.
“In the early 1900s, airplanes were made of wood. And a satellite can also be made of wood,” believes Koji Murata, a professor of forestry at Kyoto University. He also claims that in space, wood is more durable than on Earth, as there is no water or oxygen that can cause it to rot or catch fire.
And what is very important is that the wooden satellite has a minimal impact on the environment at the end of its service life. Satellites that are decommissioned must return to the atmosphere to avoid becoming space debris. Conventional metal satellites create aluminum oxide particles during re-entry. But wooden ones simply burn up with minimal pollution, said Takao Doi. According to him, metal satellites may be banned altogether in the future.
Not an anachronism, but a cutting-edge technology.
After a 10-month experiment aboard the International space station Researchers have found that honoki, a type of magnolia that grows in Japan and is traditionally used for making sword sheaths, is best suited for spacecraft. During the construction of the first wooden satellite, scientists employed a traditional Japanese craft technique without the use of screws or glue.
LignoSat will remain in orbit for six months. Meanwhile, the electronic components on board will measure how wood withstands the extreme conditions of space. By the way, the temperature there ranges from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius. Measurements will take place every 45 minutes as the satellite moves from darkness to sunlight in its orbit.
According to Kenji Kariya, manager of the Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba research institute, the LignoSat satellite will also provide the opportunity to assess the ability of wood to reduce the impact of cosmic radiation on semiconductors.
“It may seem anachronistic, but the use of wood is actually a cutting-edge technology considering that civilization is heading to the Moon and Mars. Moreover, the application of wood in space projects could revitalize the forestry industry,” he added.
