Japan sent an interesting glimpse at options for space to the ISS in the past week. The latest delivery was a satellite made out of… wood. No air or water changes the game with this material, but it gets far better. When a satellite is pushed back into our atmosphere, there are issues with various particles that are aerosolized, leaving debris like aluminum oxide in our atmosphere. With wood, most of that will just burn up early, and the remaining electronics will separate for a far more complete destruction. Japan has a 50-year plan for exploring wood in other ways for space, including the possibility of planting trees on the moon, or even Mars.
A Japanese company just built a wooden satellite and sent it to space in order to test the material’s durability. This could pave the way to more space-based structures made from wood.
Found at www.engadget.com
