Wooden satellite that shocked the world
Japanese wooden satellite to ride Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket into space
May 31, 2024
A novel satellite has been built by Japanese engineers which is not made of aluminium, copper, or any metal, but something which you would never expect.
According to Japan Times, scientists at Kyoto University and Tokyo logging company Sumitomo Forestry have developed a wooden satellite to orbit Earth and will be launched in September this year aboard Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The wooden satellite will be leaving the Earth from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the International Space Station (ISS). Afterward, it will then be released from Japan’s Kibo module to determine if the spacecraft is stable in the harsh space environment.
The satellite is named LignoSat, a tiny cube made up of magnolia wood, measuring 4 inches on each side and weighing just over 2 pounds, according to Gizmodo.
The idea surfaced for the first time four years ago that surrounded the question of low-cost satellites and addressing the space junk problem.
The space probe is not completely made of wood but some of its parts were supposed to be made of aluminium. It would completely burn up when it would reenter the Earth’s atmosphere.
