The world’s first wooden satellite has been launched into space as part of study on using timber to help reduce the creation of space junk.
Scientists at Kyoto University expect the wooden material to burn up when the device re-enters the atmosphere – potentially providing a way to avoid generating metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth.
These particles may negatively affect the environment and telecommunications, the developers say.
Each side of the box-like experimental satellite, named LignoSat, measures just 10cm (4in).
It was launched on an unmanned SpaceX rocket from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Kyoto University’s Human Spaceology Center said on Tuesday.
The satellite, installed in a special container prepared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, “flew into space safely”, it said in a post on X.
Takao Doi, an astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, holding an engineering model of LignoSat. Photograph: Irene Wang/Reuters
A spokesperson for LignoSat’s co-developer Sumitomo Forestry told AFP the launch had been successful.
She said the satellite would “arrive at the ISS soon, and will be released to outer space about a month later” to test its strength and durability.
Data will be sent from the satellite to researchers who can check for signs of strain and determine if the satellite can withstand extreme changes in temperature.
“Satellites that are not made of metal should become mainstream,” Takao Doi, an astronaut and special professor at Kyoto University, said at a press conference earlier this year.
These days I only have one rule when it comes to new year resolutions: do not, under any circumstances, write them down. Don’t put them on social media, or on a Post-it note stuck to your bathroom mirror, or in the notes section of your phone. Chances are high you won’t keep your resolutions, but as long as you don’t write them down chances are equally high you’ll have no memory of making them by next December.
I’ve learned there is simply no point in negotiating with future you – this person who no longer shares your goal to write a play, or to read 50 books in a year. Don’t let their failure be your failure. Besides: if you only manage to read nine books in 2025, you’ll still be nine books less stupid than you were in 2024.
In the meantime here’s something you can do right now to override future-you’s lack of commitment: support the Guardian’s work in 2025. You’ll be supporting independent journalism at a time when it’s more desperately needed than ever, and I promise that we will never send you an email reminding you to practice your Italian.
