Japan is pioneering a groundbreaking approach to combat space pollution by planning the launch of the world's first wooden satellite.
The environmentally friendly LignoSat spacecraft, constructed from robust and crack-resistant magnolia wood, aims to counteract hazardous aluminium particles in orbit. Scheduled for launch this summer aboard a US rocket, this innovative initiative underscores Japan's commitment to sustainability in space exploration.
The environmentally friendly LignoSat spacecraft, slated to orbit this summer, has been designed to counteract hazardous aluminium particles. Japanese scientists have developed one of the world's most bizarre spacecraft: a little wooden satellite.
The LignoSat probe is made of magnolia wood, which has been seen on the International Space Station (ISS) to be highly robust and crack-resistant. Plans are currently being finalised for its launch on a US rocket this summer.
Researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry built the timber satellite to test the idea of using biodegradable materials like wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals used to build all satellites today.
"All satellites that re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years," Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer at Kyoto University, said recently. "Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth."
To address the issue, Kyoto researchers launched a project to evaluate several types of wood to see how well they could resist the rigours of space launch and long travels in orbit around the Earth.
The initial tests were conducted in laboratories that replicated space conditions, and wood samples were discovered to have experienced no significant changes in mass, decomposition, or damage.
"Wood's ability to withstand these conditions astounded us," said project manager Koji Murata. Following these experiments, samples were transferred to the International Space Station (ISS), where they were exposed for over a year before being returned to Earth.
Again, they exhibited few indications of deterioration, a condition Murata attributed to the lack of oxygen in space, which may cause wood to burn and live organisms to rot.
Several varieties of wood were tried, including Japanese cherry, and magnolia wood proved to be the most sturdy.
This has now been utilised to construct Kyoto's wooden satellite, which will house a variety of tests to determine how well the spacecraft functions in orbit, said Murata.
"One of the satellite's duties is to monitor the deformation of the wooden construction in orbit. He told the Observer that while wood is sturdy and stable in one way, it is prone to dimensional changes and cracking in the opposite direction.
Murata added that a final decision on the launch vehicle was still pending, with options narrowing down to a voyage this summer aboard an Orbital Sciences Cygnus supply ship to the ISS or a similar SpaceX Dragon mission later in the year.
The probe, which is the size of a coffee mug, is anticipated to spend at least six months in space before being allowed to enter the upper atmosphere.
If the LignoSat functions successfully in orbit, the door may be opened to the use of wood as a construction material for future satellites.
More than 2,000 spacecraft are expected to be launched each year in the coming years, and the aluminium that they will deposit in the upper atmosphere as they burn up on re-entry might cause enormous environmental problems.
Recent research conducted by scientists at the University of British Columbia in Canada revealed that aluminium from re-entering satellites could cause serious depletion of the ozone layer, which protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet radiation, as well as affect the amount of sunlight that travels through the atmosphere and reaches the ground.
However, this should not be an issue for wood-built satellites like LignoSat, which, when it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere after finishing its mission, produces merely a small shower of biodegradable ash.
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