The first wooden satellite in history was “thrown” into outer space from the ISS

In the last days of December 2024, five cubesats were launched into outer space from the ISS, among which the Japanese LignoSat stands out. This is the world’s first satellite with a wooden body. He will spend several months in orbit testing wood as a building material for spacecraft, and eventually for stations and bases.

Image source: NASA/Kyoto University

The wooden satellite project was carried out by a team of scientists from Kyoto University led by former Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, who is currently a professor at the university. They were assisted by wood processing company Sumitomo Forestry. A year before sending the satellite to the ISS, samples of various types of wood, varnished and uncoated, were delivered to select the most vacuum-resistant material. As a result, the choice fell on the Japanese variety of magnolia – honoki.

In Japanese culture, honoki wood was historically used to make sheaths for samurai swords, the katanas. The launch of a satellite using honoki into outer space, according to the Japanese, promises to take the woodworking industry to a new level. Takao Doi’s team, together with Sumitomo Forestry, has even developed a 50-year plan to plant magnolia plantations to meet the potential demand for wood for building bases on the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies.

The walls of the LignoSat cubesat are connected without glue or nails using the dovetail method. At the same time, the satellite has a rigid frame and a fastening system made of steel spokes, which makes the joinery connection perhaps redundant, but gives the structure a certain elegance. However, the behavior of the grooves under vacuum conditions can provide important information about the properties of the wood, which makes this solution practical.

During a free flight in orbit, wood must prove its reliability not only as a structural material, but also as a protection for electronics from radiation and the penetration of the geomagnetic field through the walls of the satellite. Well, the first step has been taken. A similar project is being developed at the European Space Agency. In the future, replacing aluminum satellite bodies with wooden ones will avoid pollution of the Earth’s atmosphere with aluminum oxide, which is formed during the combustion of satellites. Wood, on the other hand, is an environmentally friendly solution.