LignoSat will join orbiting satellites, testing the concept of wood in space. Image: “Animation of GPS satellite orbits” by Phoenix 7777, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

It’s small (just 4 inches/10 centimeters each side) but Japan’s new satellite innovation could change the way we build for, and communicate from, space.

Like Sputnik, pictured above, most satellites are made of aluminum. Image: “Sputnik” by US Airforce photo. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Sputnik began the space age on 4 October 1957; the US followed with Explorer 1 on 31 January 1958. When the world’s telecommunications countries joined together to create COMSAT Corporation in 1963, a new era of space communication began to dot the skies with satellites. Most are fabricated from aluminum. While aluminum is light and strong, it burns when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, producing aluminum oxides that damage the protective ozone layer. With over 6,000 satellites currently in orbit in the macro cluster of SpaceX’s Starlink (with plans to expand to 42,000), satellites active in 2024 numbered 28,300. When these are decommissioned, the amount of space debris could be dangerous.

Professor Takao Doi, JAXA and NASA astronaut, pioneered a new satellite design using wood. Image: NASA 1997. Public Domain, and included with appreciation to JAXA and NASA, and to Professor Doi.

Enter Takao Doi, former NASA and JAXA astronaut, now a professor at Kyoto University. In a cooperative venture with Sumitomo Forestry, Doi proposed a satellite made of wood. As an astronaut, Doi had witnessed many space vehicles in orbit. Could the aluminum problem be solved with another material, one as old as human building in its earliest times? A special Japanese wood, honoki, from native magnolia trees became the preferred source. Some honoki wood was sent to the International Space Station for testing. It passed; the satellite design was then built. LignoSat 1 (Ligno is Latin for “wood”) launched in November 2024.

Could wood cause fewer problems than aluminum space debris? Image: NASA “Space Debris” 2005. Public Domain.

Advantages to using wood are many. Wood may be better than aluminum space debris, an increasing problem. Wood does not damage the atmosphere. Wood can allow signals to pass through the material. This means communications antennae do not have to be outside the satellite, making the vessel less prone to malfunction.

LignoSat is constructed using Japanese Magnolia Tree wood. Image: “Magnolia Tree Kenosha” by Catholic Laitinen, 2013. Dedicated by the photographer to the Public Domain.

Wood is one of the oldest human building materials, now it may be the newest – in space. Watch LignoSat’s launch video here.

Brooke, K. Lusk and Z. Quinn. “SPACE: Global Connectivity.” Building the World Blog, 30 March 2023. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/03/30/space-global-connectivity/

Brooke, K. Lusk and Z. Quinn. “SPACE: Debris.” Building the World Blog, 18 November 2021. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2021/11/18/space-debris/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “COMSAT” Chapter 33 in Building the World, pages 623-639. Westport: Greenwood, 2006. ISBN:031333377412.

Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) https://global.jaxa.jp

JAXA. “Humans in Space Series: Takao DOI – first Japanese astronaut to participate in EVA” https://humans-in-space.jaxa.jp/en/astronaut/doi-takao/

Kyoto University “Professor Takao Doi.” https://kdb.iimc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/profile/en.a60ccd0956b513ef.html

Sumitomo Forestry. https://sfc.jp/english/

Wall, Mike. “World’s first wooden satellite arrives at ISS for key orbital test.” 5 November 2024. SPACE. https://www.space.com/space-exploration-satellites/worlds-1st-wooden-satellite-arrives-at-iss-for-key-orbital-test

Wilson, Despina. “Revealed: Number of operational satellites in orbit, 2024.” CEOWORLD Magazine. https://ceoworld.biz/2024/07/18/revealed-number-of-operational-satellites-in-orbit-2024/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U