Could wooden satellite replace traditional ones? Finnish engineers successfully test plywood based Woodsat.
The Woodsat is a 10x10x10 cm nanosatellite built from standardised boxes, but the surface panels have been made from plywood.
Since the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, Low Earth Orbit has been packed with thousands of small, medium, and large satellites. In the decades since Sputnik began orbiting the planet, plastic, metal, and high-level debris have swept the globe.
Now a new team of researchers and engineers are working to build a wooden satellite that will one day be more practical than traditional ones. The European Space Agency is working with Arctic Astronautics to perform a series of experimental sensory devices as well as assist in pre-flight testing.
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What is Woodsat?
Woodsat is a 10x10x10 cm nanosatellite made from standard boxes, but the upper panels are made of wood. Only non-wooden parts of the satellite have its aluminum rail at the corner used for posting in space and a selfie steel rod. The idea was introduced by the founder of Arctic Astronautics, Jari Makinen, a Finnish writer and broadcaster.(ads2)
Woodsat chief engineer and founder of Arctic Astronautics Samuli Nyman said the woodworking materials are birch exactly the same as those found in a hardware store. While birch is too moist to be used in space, engineers put it in a hot room to dry before applying a very thin layer of aluminum oxide to reduce any unwanted smoke from the wood. This prevents the satellite from receiving atomic oxygen.
Atomic oxygen, a highly versatile oxygen at the extremities of the atmosphere and formed as normal oxygen molecules separated by strong ultraviolet rays from the Sun.
Taste of space
The Woodsat test model successfully performed a stratospheric test flight on June 12, when engineers tested satellite camera systems and equipment in conditions such as space. During a long two-hour flight, the satellite reached its peak of 31.2 kilometers, when the balloon it was carrying exploded according to experimental conditions. The satellite then returned safely under parachute.
"The purpose of this space-level flight was to explore satellite systems and in particular to take pictures with the camera on the edge of the camera boom that could be sent. .
With the success of the aircraft, construction of the aircraft model and its backup is underway and will be completed by the end of June.
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Mission information
"I've always enjoyed making model aircraft, which includes a lot of wood parts. Having worked in the field of space teaching, this made me wonder; why don't we fly with wooden objects in space?" Said Makinen. Built and built in Finland, the satellite will be launched later this year on a rocket rocket from the launch site of the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.
Engineers under the new project aim to test the performance of wood materials, birch plywood in spacecraft buildings and the effects of exposure to extreme conditions, such as heat, cold, vacuum and radiation, for a long time.
The satellite will travel about 500-600 kilometers in the polar Sun-synchronous orbit.
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