On Tuesday, November 5th, the world’s first wooden satellite, LignoSat, built by Japanese researchers was launched into space, marking the first attempt by humanity to use wood in lunar and Martian exploration.
The wooden artificial satellite, LignoSat, was sent to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket on the day and later released into orbit about 400 kilometers from Earth.
Developed jointly by Kyoto University and housing construction company Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd., the satellite took four years to design. The research team, known as the “Kyoto University Space Wood Project,” announced this milestone on the social media platform, X.
“A SpaceX rocket, the SpX-31, carrying the world’s first wooden satellite, LignoSat, was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA,” stated the team.
Named in Latin as “Ligno Sat” (meaning wood), the palm-sized satellite aims to demonstrate the potential of renewable materials in human space exploration activities.
Takao Doi, the current Special Professor of Space at Kyoto University and a former astronaut, stated, “Wood is a material that we can produce ourselves. With it, we can build houses and live and work permanently in space.”
The wooden satellite passed safety reviews by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), paving the way for the use of wood in space, a significant advancement for both the aerospace and wood industries.
In addition to the wooden satellite, Doi’s team has outlined a 50-year plan to plant trees and build wooden houses on the Moon and Mars, aiming to prove that wood is a viable material for space exploration.
Koji Murata, a professor of forest science at Kyoto University, remarked, “Wood was used for airplanes in the early 20th century, so a wooden satellite should also be feasible.” He added that wood is more durable in space compared to on Earth, where there is no water or oxygen to cause rot or combustion.
Researchers highlighted that the wooden satellite can minimize its environmental impact when reaching the end of its lifespan.
Retired satellites must re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere to avoid becoming space debris. Doi noted that traditional metal satellites form aluminum oxide particles when re-entering the atmosphere, while a wooden satellite would burn up, causing less pollution.
Doi expressed, “Metal satellites could potentially be banned in the future. If we can prove the feasibility of the first wooden satellite, we aim to promote it to Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.”
After conducting a 10-month experiment on the International Space Station, researchers discovered that wood from a traditional Japanese Magnolia tree, specifically Magnolia obovata, commonly used for sword scabbards in Japan, is best suited for spacecraft.
LignoSat, made from Japanese Magnolia crafted using traditional Japanese techniques, does not utilize any screws or glue.
Once in orbit, LignoSat will stay for six months, during which its onboard electronic components will measure the durability of wood in the extreme space environment. The temperature fluctuates between -100 degrees Celsius and 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes as the satellite moves from darkness to sunlight in orbit.
Kenji Kariya, manager at Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba Research Institute, mentioned that LignoSat will also assess the wood’s ability to reduce space radiation impacts on semiconductors, making it useful for applications like data center construction.
He stated, “Although it may sound outdated, with humans venturing towards the Moon and Mars, wood has actually become cutting-edge technology. Expanding into space may revitalize the wood industry.”