A group of Japanese researchers from Kyoto University, in collaboration with Sumitomo Forestry, has launched the world’s first wooden satellite, code-named LignoSat, into space. This innovative space technology, which has a nostalgic feel, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on November 5 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule.
LignoSat measures just 4 inches (10 cm) across, yet it holds the potential to significantly impact future space travel and research.
“With timber, a material we can produce ourselves, we will be able to build houses and live and work in space permanently,” stated Takao Doi, an astronaut affiliated with Kyoto University. This initiative marks the first step in a 50-year plan that aims to include planting trees and constructing actual timber houses on the Moon and even Mars.
“Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood,” said Koji Murata, a professor of forest science at Kyoto University. “A wooden satellite should be feasible, too.”