News – THAT – Japan develops wooden satellites to combat scourge of space debris

Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry, subsidiary of one of the oldest Japanese industrial groups founded in 1615, collaborates with Kyoto University to develop wooden satellites to fight the scourge of space debris

Satellites are used in orbit for communications, navigation, meteorology and the study of global warming, and they are still more numerous according to the World Economic Forum. There are currently more than 6000 satellites around the Earth and 60% of them are no longer operational in the next decade, about 990 satellites will be sent into space every year, according to Euroconsult estimates, une société spécialisée dans les marchés spatiaux, ce qui signifie que d’ici 2028, il pourrait y avoir plus de 15 000 satellites en orbite…

Indeed, des entreprises comme Amazon avec leur projet Kuiper et SpaceX avec son groupe Starlink, qui souhaitent fournir un accès Internet haut débit à des régions isolées grâce à des milliers de satellites, exacerbent un problème déjà très grave. Cela pénètre dans l’atmosphère terrestre brûle et produit de minuscules particules d’alumine qui flottent dans la haute atmosphère depuis de nombreuses années. Takao Doi, professeur à l’Université de Kyoto et astronaute japonais qui était à bord de la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) in 2008, a déclaré à la BBC en 2008 that this would ultimately affect the terrestrial environment. Besides being a problem on Earth, space debris is also a threat to astronauts aboard the International Space Station Futura-Sciences reported that the station had to maneuver three times this year to avoid colliding with space debris

How can wood solve this problem? As Nikkei explains, the wooden satellite will burn completely without releasing any harmful substances on return, thus avoiding dangerous impacts on the ground. Moreover, the use of this material for satellites will make it possible to build simpler structures The wood does not block electromagnetic waves or the earth's magnetic field, it would suffice to place certain measuring instruments inside for them to trigger

Sumitomo Forestry and Kyoto University begin research to launch the first scheduled test in 2023. One year later, they will study the construction of wooden structures in space environments to successfully send a wooden satellite into space. Japanese company is working to develop wood that is resistant to extreme temperatures and sunlight.

Space debris, Japan, satellites, pollution