A wooden satellite

The BBC reports that a company and a university in Japan are designing a wooden satellite.

Apart from tailor-made, hipster qualities of such a noble material, what is it for? An advantage: when the satellite is taken out of service and burns on re-entry, it could theoretically release less toxic crap into the atmosphere …

Space debris is becoming a growing problem as more and more satellites are launched into the atmosphere.

The wooden satellites would burn without releasing noxious substances into the atmosphere or raining debris on the ground when they returned to Earth.

“We are very concerned that all satellites that enter Earth’s atmosphere burn and create tiny particles of alumina that will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” said Takao Doi, professor at the University. of Kyoto and Japanese astronaut. the BBC.

“Ultimately, it will affect Earth’s environment.”

It is certainly true that the problem of space waste is exploding; I recently reported an important article on the privatization of outer space for The new republic, and I’ve heard from scientists worried about SpaceX’s plans to send tens of thousands of new satellites in the years to come.

Popular mechanics wrote a brief history of the use of wood in spacecraft (there have been several experiments, including as heat shields), and pointed out another benefit:

There may be some advantages to enclosing a payload in a wooden shell. Nikkei Asia also note that, unlike metal, wood will not block the electromagnetic waves that satellites use to communicate. If so, scientists may be able to store the antenna and other pieces of instrumentation inside the exterior wooden structure.

(This CC-2.0 licensed photo of wood above – unrelated to building any satellites! It’s just… wood! – courtesy of Yuya Tamai’s Flickr feed)