Japan will launch its first wooden satellite into space

The innovative satellite, called Lignosat, is the result of several tests carried out since 2020 on three species of wood in space: Ehrman birch, Japanese cherry and magnolia.

After 290 days of testing, it was determined that it was magnolia wood that offered the greatest resistance, so scientists concluded that it should be chosen to give life to the first satellite made from this material.

According to experts, metallic satellites completely burn up when they enter the atmosphere, an event from which harmful substances and debris are derived, and the particles that remain suspended damage the ozone layer.

At the same time, when using wood on land, there are problems of burning, rotting and deformation, but in space there are no problems.

Specialists explain that there is no oxygen in space, so it does not burn, and no organisms live in it, so it does not rot.

This seems to be a viable alternative to the space debris crisis, because according to data from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, there are currently about 13 thousand satellites orbiting the Earth, of which only about eight thousand are operational.

Added to this debris are the remains of ships that were launched from our planet over the years, and other fragments released by artifacts of a similar nature that constitute space debris.

lam/lpn