Wood could soon be a sustainable alternative to traditional spacecraft materials
Of the over 10,000 satellites orbiting the Earth at this moment, just one of them is made of wood: LignoSat (1, 2). The first satellite to be built from wood, LignoSat was developed by scientists in Japan after engineer and former astronaut Takao Doi posed the question in 2017: Could humans use wood as a renewable building material in space? Airplanes had been built out of wood in the 1900s, so why not satellites? Doi, a professor at Kyoto University, teamed up with scientists at the university and Sumitomo Forestry, one of Japan’s oldest timber companies, to determine the best wood to use for space (2).
Takao Doi holds an engineering model of LignoSat in his laboratory at Kyoto University https://www.reuters.com/resizer/v2/3CLAXLWOH5NENPS2UUFAOZXEVE.jpg?auth=2c8efdcdb75fe89ce32899b18f2409ed46d9e6426415d07dea2ff1305dc5f399
The team sent three wood types to be tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS): birch, cherry, and magnolia (2). Over 10 months aboard the Kibo module of the ISS, the woods were subjected to the intense environment of space, involving extreme temperatures, cosmic rays, and solar particles. After returning to Earth, the research group inspected the wood using strength tests and elemental and crystal structural analyses. The wood specimens showed no signs of “decomposition or deformations, such as cracking, warping, peeling, or surface damage,” and the samples also maintained their mass (3). The team attributed these results to the lack of oxygen for wood to burn and the lack of life for wood to rot (1). The group of scientists chose honoki, a type of magnolia native to Japan and traditionally used for sword sheaths, as the most suitable for a spacecraft because of the wood’s overall strength, lightweight properties, and workability (2, 3, 4).
LignoSat, named after the Latin word lignum for wood, is a One-Unit CubeSat, a cube-shaped satellite measuring 10 cm (4 in) on all sides (2, 5). Two master carpenters in Kyoto who usually restore historical buildings built the CubeSat with traditional tools, like saws and chisels, and sashimono, a traditional woodworking technique that uses intricate joints instead of screws, nails, or glue (2).
In the early morning of November 5, 2024, the satellite launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9, arriving at the ISS later that day (5). It was deployed in early December from the Kibo module for a six-month testing period, after which it will fall back into the atmosphere. LignoSat will orbit at the same altitude as the ISS—about 250 miles above the Earth—circling the planet every 90 minutes while exposed to highly charged solar particles and extreme temperatures ranging from -250°F to 250°F (6). LignoSat will also investigate wood’s ability to protect against geomagnetic fields and reduce space radiation on semiconductors (4, 6).
Wooden satellites aren’t just a gimmick, however. Satellites are traditionally made of aluminum, and when they burn up in the atmosphere, they produce pollutants like aluminum oxide, which damages the ozone layer and alters the atmosphere’s ability to reflect sunlight. Research has shown that the rapid growth of satellites could lead to a dangerous rise in these harmful pollutants in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (6). Wood, on the other hand, only produces water vapor and carbon dioxide, which is less harmful (2). Finding more sustainable and less polluting alternatives to spacecraft materials will be vital as space activities grow and the environmental impact becomes more significant. As humans explore the possibility of living in space, wood as a renewable resource will be instrumental in making that dream a reality.
Works Cited
- Newkey-Burden, C. (2024, February 22). “Magnolias in space”: why scientists have created the world’s first wooden satellite. The Week. Retrieved from https://theweek.com/science/the-worlds-first-wooden-satellite.
- Yoon, J., & Ueno, H. (2024, December 1). First Satellite Made of Wood Is Launched Into Space. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/05/science/japan-wooden-satellite.html.
- Murata, K., & Doi, T. (2024, January 25). Sampling for sustainability in outer space. Kyoto University. Retrieved from https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/research-news/2024-01-25-0.
- Komiya, K., & Wang, I. (2024, November 5). World’s first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/worlds-first-wooden-satellite-developed-japan-heads-space-2024-11-05.
- Wall, M. (2024, November 5). World’s 1st wooden satellite arrives at ISS for key orbital test. Space. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/worlds-1st-wooden-satellite-arrives-at-iss-for-key-orbital-test.
- Pultarova, T. (2025, January 10). World’s 1st wooden satellite deploys from ISS to demonstrate cleaner spacecraft tech (photo). Space. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/worlds-1st-wooden-satellite-deploys-from-iss-to-demonstrate-cleaner-spacecraft-tech.