The world’s first wooden satellite was launched into space on a rocket. SpaceXas part of a supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), its Japanese creators announced on Tuesday.
RATE: Europa Clipper: a NASA mission that went to Jupiter’s moon to search for habitable conditions
Scientists from Kyoto University They expect the wooden material to ignite when the device re-enters the atmospherea way to prevent metal particles from forming when a retired satellite returns to Earth.
According to the creators of the satellite, these particles can negatively affect the environment and telecommunications.
Each side of the experimental satellite, called LignoSat, measures just 10 centimeters.
It was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Kyoto University’s Center for Human Space Science said.
satellite, installed in a space container prepared by the Japanese Space Agency“safe flight into space”, said the creators at X.
A spokeswoman for Sumitomo Forestry, one of LignoSat’s creators, told AFP the launch was “successful”.
“It will soon arrive at the ISS and will be launched into space a month later” to test its durability and longevity, he stated.
The satellite will send the information to researchers so they can verify the stress signals and determine if the satellite is able to withstand extreme temperature changes.
“Satellites that are not made of metal must become commonplace,” Takao Doi, an astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, said at a press conference months ago.
