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World's very first wooden satellite, established in Japan, heads to space

The world's first wood satellite, built by Japanese researchers, was launched into area on Tuesday, in an early test of using timber in lunar and Mars exploration.

LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, will be flown to the International Spaceport station on a SpaceX objective, and later launched into orbit about 400 km (250 miles) above the Earth.

Called after the Latin word for wood, the palm-sized LignoSat is charged to show the cosmic capacity of the sustainable product as humans check out living in area.

With timber, a product we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and operate in space forever, said Takao Doi, an astronaut who has flown on the Space Shuttle and research studies human space activities at Kyoto University.

With a 50-year strategy of planting trees and constructing lumber houses on the moon and Mars, Doi's group decided to establish a. NASA-certified wooden satellite to prove wood is a space-grade. product.

Early 1900s planes were made of wood, said Kyoto. University forest science professor Koji Murata. A wood. satellite ought to be practical, too.

Wood is more long lasting in area than in the world since there's. no water or oxygen that would rot or irritate it, Murata included.

A wooden satellite likewise reduces the environmental. impact at the end of its life, the scientists state.

Decommissioned satellites must return to the environment. to prevent becoming

area particles

. Conventional metal satellites create aluminium oxide. particles throughout re-entry, however wood ones would simply burn up. with less pollution, Doi said.

Metal satellites may be banned in the future, Doi said. If we can prove our very first wood satellite works, we want to. pitch it to Elon Musk's SpaceX.. COMMERCIAL APPLICATION

The researchers discovered that honoki, a kind of magnolia tree. native in Japan and typically utilized for sword sheaths, is. most matched for spacecraft, after a 10-month experiment aboard. the International Spaceport Station.

LignoSat is made of honoki, utilizing a traditional Japanese. crafts strategy without screws or glue.

Once released, LignoSat will stay in the orbit for 6. months, with the electronic parts onboard measuring how. wood withstands the severe environment of space, where. temperature levels vary from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45. minutes as it orbits from darkness to sunlight.

LignoSat will likewise gauge wood's ability to lower the impact. of area radiation on semiconductors, making it useful for. applications such as information centre building, stated Kenji. Kariya, a supervisor at Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba Research. Institute.

It might seem out-of-date, but wood is in fact innovative. technology as civilisation heads to the moon and Mars, he said. Expansion to area might stimulate the wood industry..

(source: Reuters)