As Japan sends a wooden satellite into space, experts say astronauts could one day live in wooden structures

After Japanese scientists launched the world’s first wooden satellite into space last week, experts in Canada are proposing ways in which wood could become a bigger part of space exploration. 

Made from the wood of a magnolia tree, the palm-sized LignoSat was sent to the International Space Station earlier this month. 

Developed by Kyoto University and building company Sumitomo Forestry, it will be sent into orbit on a test run next month. 

Aaron Boley, co-director of the Outer Space Institute in Vancouver, said LignoSat could show that wood is a more sustainable alternative for making satellites as humans become more dependent on them. 

He said most satellites are designed to burn up in the atmosphere when their lifespan is over, depositing materials into the atmosphere that could be harmful — but wood would be less polluting when burning up. 

Boley told CBC’s Daybreak North that, with projects like LignoSat, we are “fundamentally changing our relationship with outer space.”

He said it’s important to test how natural materials hold up in space as we look toward long-term human habitation beyond Earth. 

“Plants are going to be an important part of humanity moving forward with space exploration,” said Boley.

Daybreak North8:57Wooden satellite prototype

Daybreak lifts the veneer on a project set to blast off.

Wooden space structures

That includes the possibility of using wood as a building material in space.

“Building structures there that would house people for long periods of time is something that someone may consider using wood for,” said Stavros Avramidis, head of the University British Columbia’s department of wood science. 

Wood is naturally insulating, and would provide better temperature and moisture control than other materials like metal or concrete, he said. 

Wood could potentially work even better in space than on Earth, because fungi and wood-eating insects that cause decay cannot survive in space. 

The main challenge engineers would face, according to Avramidis, is wood breaking down from radiation, such as powerful X-rays and gamma rays from the sun. 

“If you take a house from Earth and move it to the moon, it’s going to disintegrate quite fast,” he said. 

Some some sort of radiation-resistant wood would have to be created, he suggested — and if it was, he said even spaceships could be made out of wood.

The LignoSat project aims to provide some hard data about wood’s extraterrestrial durability.

The satellite is scheduled to stay in orbit for six months, with the electronic components onboard measuring how wood endures the extreme environment of space, and in temperatures that fluctuate from -100 to 100 C every 45 minutes as LignoSat moves from darkness to sunlight and back again.

Avramidis says he’ll be watching with interest as wood takes a first step toward playing a bigger role in space exploration. 

“An ocean starts with a drop of water,” he said.