To Combat Space Pollution, Japan Plans Launch of World's First Wooden Satellite

Japanese scientists plan to launch a satellite made of magnolia wood this summer on a U.S. rocket, reports the Observer.
Experiments carried out on the International Space Station showed magnolia wood was unusually stable and resistant to cracking — and 'when it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere after completing its mission, will produce only a fine spray of Âbiodegradable ash.'

The LignoSat probe 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. '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.'

To tackle the problem, Kyoto researchers set up a project to evaluate types of wood to determine how well they could withstand the rigours of space launch and lengthy flights in orbit round the Earth. The first tests were carried out in laboratories that recreated conditions in space, and wood samples were found to have suffered no measurable changes in mass or signs of decomposition or damage. 'Wood's ability to withstand these conditions astounded us,' said Koji Murata, head of the project.

After these tests, samples were sent to the ISS, where they were subjected to exposure trials for almost a year before being brought back to Earth. Again they showed little signs of damage, a phenomenon that Murata attributed to the fact that there is no oxygen in space which could cause wood to burn, and no living creatures to cause it to rot.

The article adds that if it performs well in space, 'then the door could be opened for the use of wood as a construction material for more satellites.'

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