To Combat Space Pollution, Japan Plans Launch of World's First Wooden Satellite (theguardian.com) 59
Japanese scientists plan to launch a satellite made of magnolia wood this summer on a U.S. rocket, reports the Observer.
Experiments carried out on the International Space Station showed magnolia wood was unusually stable and resistant to cracking — and "when it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere after completing its mission, will produce only a fine spray of Âbiodegradable ash." The LignoSat probe has been built by researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry in order to test the idea of using biodegradable materials such as wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals from which all satellites are currently constructed. "All the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years," Takao Doi a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. "Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth."
To tackle the problem, Kyoto researchers set up a project to evaluate types of wood to determine how well they could withstand the rigours of space launch and lengthy flights in orbit round the Earth. The first tests were carried out in laboratories that recreated conditions in space, and wood samples were found to have suffered no measurable changes in mass or signs of decomposition or damage. "Wood's ability to withstand these conditions astounded us," said Koji Murata, head of the project.
After these tests, samples were sent to the ISS, where they were subjected to exposure trials for almost a year before being brought back to Earth. Again they showed little signs of damage, a phenomenon that Murata attributed to the fact that there is no oxygen in space which could cause wood to burn, and no living creatures to cause it to rot.
The article adds that if it performs well in space, "then the door could be opened for the use of wood as a construction material for more satellites."
Experiments carried out on the International Space Station showed magnolia wood was unusually stable and resistant to cracking — and "when it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere after completing its mission, will produce only a fine spray of Âbiodegradable ash." The LignoSat probe has been built by researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry in order to test the idea of using biodegradable materials such as wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals from which all satellites are currently constructed. "All the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years," Takao Doi a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. "Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth."
To tackle the problem, Kyoto researchers set up a project to evaluate types of wood to determine how well they could withstand the rigours of space launch and lengthy flights in orbit round the Earth. The first tests were carried out in laboratories that recreated conditions in space, and wood samples were found to have suffered no measurable changes in mass or signs of decomposition or damage. "Wood's ability to withstand these conditions astounded us," said Koji Murata, head of the project.
After these tests, samples were sent to the ISS, where they were subjected to exposure trials for almost a year before being brought back to Earth. Again they showed little signs of damage, a phenomenon that Murata attributed to the fact that there is no oxygen in space which could cause wood to burn, and no living creatures to cause it to rot.
The article adds that if it performs well in space, "then the door could be opened for the use of wood as a construction material for more satellites."
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Dude, you're obsessed with dog shit! :D
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The amount of pollution from reentering the atmosphere is negligible compared to the fuel burned during the launch.
Satellites should be made as light as possible to minimize the fuel burned.
Wood is not as light as aluminum for equivalent structural strength.
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There are questions over what burning up various substances in the upper atmosphere may do long term. Now we are going to be having thousands of satellites per year re-entering, it's an issue.
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Now we are going to be having thousands of satellites per year re-entering, it's an issue.
They're called StarLink [space.com]. The entire plan was to have these thousands of satellites plummeting toward Earth when they're used up, thus ensuring various substances pollute the upper atmosphere.
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Re:Fail (Score:4, Informative)
Of course, designing spacecraft so they will navigate to collection centres for planned de-orbiting for recycling would probably be better, but that's a long way in the future - after the "wild west" epoch of man in space is over, and the equivalent of uniform highway regulations come into effect. I doubt either of us are going to liver long enough for that to happen (definitely not if that lunatic Musk gets his way).
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There are questions over what burning up various substances in the upper atmosphere may do long term.
The solution is better math and science education so people are no longer dumb enough to believe this is a real problem.
Now we are going to be having thousands of satellites per year re-entering, it's an issue.
Between 1 and 3 billion tonnes of dust settle out of the atmosphere annually. That dust is about 8% aluminum, the 3rd most common element in the earth's crust. The half-life of dust in the atmosphere is about three days.
A StarLink satellite has a mass of 260 kg and is mostly aluminum. Even thousands of them are negligible.
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"Satellites should be made as light as possible to minimize the fuel burned."
While this is true, I think we are entering a different era for spaceflight. Cost per Kg launched has plummeted, and looks like (for SpaceX at least) will continue going down.
Given that, mass itself may not be the most important factor anymore. Now there are more tradeoffs available - whereas before a project's budget might only cover a fraction of a launch (and so need to squeeze into as small and light a package as possible jus
With an Origami Computer? (Score:2)
https://www.quantamagazine.org... [quantamagazine.org]
FTA (from This article):
"They proved that origami is 'Turing complete'"
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I was going to ask when are they going to make paper satellites .. I mean like an origami satellite out of paper. I guess it would have to be a cardboard satellite because of micrometeorites.
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Chinese space program used oak in 1970's (Score:5, Informative)
Organic ablative heat shields are fairly common (Score:2)
NASA has used cork for ablative re-entry heat shields fairly regularly. The novel thing here is building the satellite's structure out of wood.
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It's actually a brilliant solution, forget the supposed "eco-friendly" aspect, it's reasonably light, strong, a good insulator, and dirt cheap. The problem with it as a heat shield is cracking due to moisture, and lack of process control.
The lack of any way to control the quality is the weak point of any natural material, wood in particular being wildly variable from sample to sample. If you don't know exactly what it is going to do, it makes it very difficult or impossible to h
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Does one need repeatability? This may give rise to a new generation of craftsmen who can pick out just the right specimen to carve / machine into satellite parts that will work as intended, avoiding the weaknesses and maximizing its strengths. Each one of a kind, each unique, each a work of art as well as being functional.
That sounds pretty cool to me.
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One thing that the space business cannot tolerate is uncertainty, And after having built *many* things out of wood over the years, it's not that easy to just eyeball wood and see what might happen to it when you put it in the hardest of hard vacuums and then expose it alternately to full sun, 70 degree earth albedo, and 4 Rankine space background temperature.
I am not saying it couldn't be done, and testing criteria developed to screen it or do some sort of quality control. but it woul
Spy satellites (Score:2)
Re: Spy satellites (Score:3)
Yes you wood be naive in this case. That kind of satellite wooden work.
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Re:Why wood again? (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe they're making it out of Steel Magnolias.
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Did you fail first year chemistry, or did you cheat to pass?
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Or puppies and kittens! No space puppy has ever survived atmospheric reentry.
This would give all new meaning to the -grade, "it's raining cats and dogs".
Re: Why wood again? (Score:3)
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Why wood?
Tamper resistance. Wood is immune to the effects of sonic screwdrivers.
Re:Why wood again? (Score:5, Funny)
I like the bone satellite idea. What happens when some advanced civilization shows up and sees that we've surrounded our planet with orbiting boxes made of bone?
"No. No, just no". "Skip this one."
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The true great filter: Doing something so appalling, that aliens will avoid you like the plague.
It seems to have worked so far.
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Would you like me to introduce you to some people dying of mesothelmioma in a hospital ward? No, I don't think you would like it - all that wheezing, struggling to breathe even with 40% oxygen gas mixes ; the pained looks of their families watching them die - might be a bit upsetting for you.
"Dust" can be harmful or harmless - it depends totally on what the dust is.
Kyoto (Score:3)
The anagram-lovers' Tokyo.
Duh... (Score:1)
Not the first (Score:1)
Sir! We have an ash gap! (Score:3)
Eom.
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1. I think you meant to say that we must not allow an ash gap.
2. I think what you really meant to say was the we must not allow a space magnolia gap.
(But he'll see the Big Board!)
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Red level trouble shooter, please report to the food vats, immediately.
The Computer is your friend.
At orbital velocities, wood doesn't matter (Score:2)
Footfall (Score:2)
...by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the alien invaders, the Fithp, use a wooden spacecraft.
Read it 50 years ago and still remember, but where are my darn car-keys?
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Am I right in remembering "bang bang bang bang, and never mind the pollution!" ?
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'Am I right in remembering "bang bang bang bang, and never mind the pollution!" ?'
Mmm, wasn't that King David's spaceship powered by nuclear bombs?
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No, Archangel Michael powered by nukes. King David's spaceship was powered by regular artillery firing down. The passenger got pretty beat up as it was a rough ride.
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I see, I'll never find my car-keys. :-)
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I don't remember any wooden ships. They did nuke Bellingham, though it was more like, ignore the pollution as this is our only chance. And after the foot was dropped in the Indian ocean, it was obvious that the Frip had no compunctions about destroying the ecosystem.
Strength/weight (Score:2)
From a strength-to-weight ratio, which is a big part of the design considerations, is it really superior to aluminum, or titanium, or other metals? That may be very dependent upon structural design of course. If I were a spacecraft manufacturer they'd need to convince me that they can achieve the same structural rigidity for the same (or lower) mass. One potential benefit that they mention: RF can pass through the wood structure, which might make for simpler antenna designs.
Skin (Score:2)
Yet another environmentally painted bullhit (Score:2)
I am sick of this dumb (insert environmental bullshit word) excuse of the day to try to pump some funds and divert attention from more imminent and hot crying issues.
ash (Score:2)
How is ash biodegradable? Ash is basically minerals and carbon.
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Micrometeorite resistance? (Score:2)
One thing I am really curious about and not sure if this has been studied is, how well does wood reaction to micro-meteorite hits?
I could almost imagine it faring better in terms of maintaining structural strength than forms of steel which would tend to have small areas shatter. Wood being more fibrous would almost seem to be self-healing.
If you had thick layers of wood with pressurized environment on one side, would the fibers even self-heal small holes and prevent much air from escaping?
Because hitting a block of wood... (Score:2)
Because hitting a 1lb block of wood at 66620mph hurts less than hitting a 1lb piece of metal at 66620mph? ...or is it because they think that a block of wood will rot away in the highly sterilizing environment of space?
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a note from the Orkin space expert (Score:2)
They have overlooked one vital factor: space termites!
Yes, these aggressive insects can destroy a satellite in no time. They reduce the value of a space house in a good neighborhood by undercutting the framing.
Feature, not ""bug"" (Score:2)
it's a feature, not a ""bug"". :)
They will add the ermites at launch, so the sat will self-destroy when it's useful life is over
First? (Score:2)
If you visit the (admittedly aging) space and rocket center in Huntsville, AL they have one of the ?Jupiter? spacecraft used for sending monkeys into space. It has a wooden heat shield, though I can't recall if it was orbital or suborbital.