The environmentally friendly LignaSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particles

The environmentally friendly LignaSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particles

Japanese scientists have created one of the world’s most unusual spacecraft – a tiny satellite that is made of timber.

The LignoSat probe has been built of magnolia wood, which, in experiments carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), was found to be particularly stable and resistant to cracking. Now plans are being finalised for it to be launched on a US rocket this summer.

The timber satellite has been built by researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry in order to test the idea of using biodegradable materials such as wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals from which all satellites are currently constructed.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    Wood is not biodegradable in space. What are they on about? A wooden satellite would not be environmentally friendly debris. It would just be wooden debris

      • learningduck@programming.devEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        Quoting the article.

        All the satellites which re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. “Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth.

        • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          9 months ago

          Yes, political theater. The damage such a geologically small amount of aluminum that it does not amount to the prevention of that much damage as compared to the bodies of every other aluminum aircraft, decommissioned station and satellite that touches air.

          It’s a nice thought, but a drop in the bucket. It’s got spirit and a touch of humanity in the honoring of the Japanese culture’s world renown woodworking traditions, but it is foolish to pretend it is saving an ozone layer that has already been saved.

    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      Satellites all eventually come back down though. I think they’re hoping for satellites that when they come down and burn up, less expensive and wasteful materials are lost.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        0·
        9 months ago

        Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just implement some kind of recycling of old satellites rather than letting them burn up at all. Making them out of wood doesn’t seem like a good solution.

        • winterayars@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          9 months ago

          In the long term, if we become a proper space faring civilization, yeah we’ll want to recapture satellites at the end of their life span rather than de-orbiting them. Not only do you save them from burning up but you get to reuse the mass that you already spent a bunch of energy getting up there. However, at this stage i don’t think we really have the facilities up there to deal with that.

    • doctorcrimson@lemmy.todayEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      I suppose it’s got a lower carbon emission than steel or aluminum even after you account for it burning up on de-orbit, considering the fuel cost for metal refining.

    • learningduck@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      It’s for reentry. Normal satellite create alumina particles.

      All the satellites which re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. “Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth.