Tech
Japan sends world’s first wooden satellite code-named LignoSat to space
A group of Japanese researchers at Kyoto University and a company called Sumitomo Forestry have launched the world’s first wooden satellite code-named LignoSat to space.
The new spaceflight technology which has a very retro feel arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) (Nov. 5) aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule.
According to reports, LignoSat is only 4 inches (10 cm) across, yet it has the potential to significantly influence future space travel and research.
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“With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever,” said Takao Doi, an astronaut affiliated with Kyoto University. This is the first step in a 50-year plan that includes planting trees and building actual timber houses on the moon and even Mars.
“Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood,” said Kyoto University forest science professor Koji Murata. “A wooden satellite should be feasible, too.”
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