How Japan’s first-ever wooden satellite will be a game-changer

The space age began in human history around the 1950s. Since then, around 50,000 tonnes of material have been launched into orbit.

Our advancements in space exploration have not come without consequences, as we have also increased the amount of orbital debris, or space junk.

NASA says that there are around 100 million objects one millimetre or smaller in orbit, and about 500,000 marble-sized objects. There are another 25,000 things larger than 10 centimetres.

Therefore, it is imperative that we refrain from adding to the clutter.

In a bid to make spaceflight operations sustainable, NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are considering launching the LignoSat probe – the world’s first wooden satellite, into space.

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Here’s all we know about it.

The world’s first wooden satellite

Kyoto University scientists worked with the logging business Sumitomo Forestry to build the tiny satellite.

The LignoSat probe is built from magnolia wood, which has proven to be extremely durable and resistant to cracking in research conducted on the International Space Station (ISS).

According to The Guardian, in the initial experiments, conducted in laboratories that mimicked space, it was found that samples of wood had not degraded, been damaged, or changed in mass.

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Subsequently, the samples were sent to the ISS for nearly a year of testing before their return to Earth. Interestingly, there wasn’t much damage visible. The project manager, Koji Murata, said that this was because there was no oxygen in space that could burn anything.

After testing a variety of wood kinds, including Japanese cherry, it was discovered that magnolia tree wood was the most efficient. It’s been utilised to construct the satellite, which will contain experiments to determine how effectively spacecraft function while in orbit.

“One of the missions of the satellite is to measure the deformation of the wooden structure in space. Wood is durable and stable in one direction but may be prone to dimensional changes and cracking in the other direction,” the UK-based outlet quoted Murata as saying.

Murata added that a decision on the launch vehicle was still pending and that the options had been narrowed down to a trip to the International Space Station on an Orbital Sciences Cygnus supply ship or a similar SpaceX Dragon mission later in the year.

About the size of a coffee cup, the LignoSat probe is expected to remain in orbit for a minimum of six months before being allowed to enter the upper atmosphere.

The Guardian reported preparations are still underway for its launch aboard a US rocket later this year.

Why it is a big deal

The biodegradable nature of the satellite is said to have the potential to protect the Earth’s ecosystem.

At present, spacecraft, mostly satellites made primarily of aluminium, are releasing metal particles into our atmosphere.

“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. Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth," said Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer at Kyoto University, per The Guardian.

Experts believe that these metals could harm Earth’s delicate ozone layer, even if the long-term effects are still unknown.

Researchers at a Japanese university discovered wood that doesn’t burn or degrade in space while searching for alternatives and keeping the environment in mind. Nevertheless, upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, it burns swiftly into fine ash, limiting environmental harm.

Chances of working

The development comes after recent research indicated that aluminium from reentering satellites may degrade the ozone layer and affect the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground through the atmosphere, as per NDTV.

Wood-based satellites like LignoSat won’t have this problem because they burn up and re-enter the atmosphere after completing their mission, emitting only a small mist of biodegradable ash.

The successful launch of LignoSat and its satisfactory performance in orbit could pave the way for the use of wood in satellite construction.

Though steel skyscrapers and aluminium rockets, and glossy façades were all envisioned in sci-fi films, it appears that we may need to reimagine what the future of space might look like.

Space junk

Space junk, or orbital debris, can include minor rocket or satellite components as well as retired spacecraft like the ERS-2. Even human faeces from astronauts on space trips may be present. The last 30 years have seen a sharp increase in the number of objects in Earth’s orbit, as per USA Today.

As of December 2023, the majority of the 16,990 satellites that have been sent into space since 1957 — roughly 9,000 of them — were still whizzing around the Earth, according to the ESA.

On Wednesday, 21 February, an uncontrolled European satellite fell back to Earth somewhere between Alaska and Hawaii, astronomers confirmed. The pioneering satellite known as ERS-2 was launched in 1995 and deactivated in 2011.

The dead satellite was thought to have broken into pieces, with the majority burning up in the atmosphere, reported The Guardian. The remains are now plummeting into the ocean below.

Meanwhile, space trash isn’t limited to satellite and missile debris.

As per USA Today, some unusual items include a 1969 Andy Warhol drawing left behind on the Moon by the Apollo 12 mission, a spatula lost by astronaut Piers Sellers in 2005, the red Tesla and its Starman “driver” launched in space in February 2018, and a bag of tools that floated away on a maintenance spacewalk on 1 November.

With inputs from agencies