The world’s first wooden satellite lifts off on a rocket SpaceXannounced Tuesday its Japanese designers, as part of a mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
The experimental satellite, named LignoSat and featuring the appearance of a wooden cube measuring just 10 centimeters on each side, was launched aboard an unmanned rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in the United States. Nasa at Floridasaid Kyoto University’s Center for Space Studies.
Clean end of life
The aim of the material is to anticipate its inevitable end-of-life: when it eventually re-enters the atmosphere, wood should burn without generating the usual metallic particles associated with satellites falling back to Earth, according to Kyoto scientists. These particles can have a negative impact not only on the environment, but also on telecommunications, they say.
The wooden satellite, installed in a special container prepared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, “flew safely into space”, the latter said in a message on X. The satellite “will soon arrive at the ISS and will be sent into space about a month later” to test its strength and durability, said a spokeswoman for LignoSat co-developer Sumitomo Forestry.