First wooden satellite to be launched into orbit

Tokyo, May 29 (Prensa Latina) LignoSat, the world's first wooden satellite, a small cube-shaped object will be sent into space in September aboard a SpaceX rocket, it was announced. It is a 10-centimeter cube made of magnolia wood panels between four and 5.5 millimeters thick, with a frame partially constructed of aluminum and containing solar panels placed on some sides weighing approximately one kilogram.

May 29, 2024
15:03

Built by a team from Kyoto University in Japan and Sumitomo Forestry Co, the wooden satellite is considered better for the environment as they do not create alumina particles when they burn when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their operation, compared to conventional satellites made of metals.

A press release from the Kyodo agency specifies that the device is built based on a traditional Japanese technique that does not use screws or adhesive materials and the objective of its developers is to test the potential of wood in space, analyzing the data sent from this tool.

LignoSat will be delivered to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on June 4 and then launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA to the International Space Station.

“We would like to create a satellite in the future, including the electronic substrate part (contained inside), made entirely of wood,” Takao Doi, an astronaut who works as a professor of a specific program at Kyoto University, asserted.

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