Japan sends out a wooden satellite

Lignosat prototype launched into space – Reuters

LignoSat, the world’s first Japanese-built wooden satellite, has been successfully launched and is headed to the International Space Station. This was announced by the spokesperson of the forestry company Japanese company Sumitomo who contributed to its construction with researchers from Kyoto University.

It was launched at 11.29 (local time), the middle of the night in Europe, aboard a Space Once it gets there, they hope to be able to take it into space a month later, in December, although there is no confirmed date yet, as part of an initial test of the use of wood in the exploration of the Moon and Mars.

This last one development is the result of approximately four years of research at Kyoto University and the Sumitomo forestry company with the aim of creating a more environmentally friendly and lower cost satellite. The University declared at the end of its construction last May that this is an “extremely valuable” step for the space and wood industries and that it will “contribute to opening up the possibilities of using this material, a sustainable resource”.

It is a 10 centimeter cube made of magnolia wood panels with a thickness between 4 and 5.5 millimetres, with a frame partially built in aluminum for the construction of which the traditional Japanese carpentry method was used, based on the assembly of pieces without using screws or glue. It also has solar panels positioned on some sides and weighs around 1 kilogram. His name, LignoSat, comes from the combination of the words lignoLatin prefix meaning forest, and satellite. It has successfully passed rigorous safety checks by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), marking a first as a wooden satellite approved for use in space.