NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are planning to launch the world’s first wooden satellite into space to make spaceflight more sustainable. According to space agencies, LignoSat, a coffee-cup-sized satellite made of magnolia wood, is scheduled to be launched into Earth orbit by the summer of 2024.
Wood doesn’t burn or rot in the lifeless vacuum of space, but it will burn into fine ash upon re-entry, making it a surprisingly useful, biodegradable material for future satellites. After successfully testing their wood samples aboard the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year, scientists believe the test satellite is fit for launch.
“Three wood samples were tested and showed no deformation after exposure to space,” the researchers said in a statement in May. “Despite the extreme environment of outer space, including significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and hazardous solar particles for ten months, the tests confirmed no decomposition or deformation such as cracking, warping, peeling or surface damage.”
To decide which wood to use, the scientists sent three samples of wood – magnolia, cherry, or birch – to the ISS to be stored in a module open to space. The researchers chose magnolia because it is less likely to split or break during production.
More than 9300 tons (8440 metric tons) of space objects, including space debris such as defunct satellites and pieces of spent rocket stages, currently orbit the Earth. But the shiny metals they are made of, such as lightweight titanium and aluminum, increase the overall brightness of the night sky by more than 10% over large parts of the planet, creating ambient light pollution that makes it difficult to detect phenomena in deep space.
Spacecraft made of metal are also expensive and pose a threat to the ISS, other spacecraft carrying humans, and to people on Earth if they are large enough to survive re-entry. According to the researchers, wooden satellites such as LignoSat should theoretically be less harmful than space junk.
