Japan wants wooden satellites to be the future of space exploration. Indeed, for nearly 60 years, man has taken advantage of technological advances to move forward in space.
However, the number of objects left in orbit around the Earth is scary. More than 5,500 have been sent into space, and the vast majority are still there.
To avoid polluting space, Japan came up with an idea. At the very least, a Japanese company. Sumitomo Forestry is working with Kyoto University to develop a whole new, unusual and innovative solution: wooden satellites.
The idea?
Once the mission of these is fulfilled, rather than tirelessly circling our planet, shattering and polluting, they will burn and disappear without leaving any traces of pollution in the sky.
Japan wants wooden satellites for already Polluted Space
Through ESA, the announcement comes as the European Union, and the European Space Agency recently signed with ClearSpace, a startup tasked with cleaning up the atmosphere and beyond. However, these missions will be long and above all, expensive. So, rather than cleaning, why not do it biodegradable?
Wood, the solution to all problems?
Japan plans to launch its first wooden satellite in space, by 2023. Takao Doi, the Japanese astronaut, believes that this idea would be excellent, saying that space debris could eventually impact the environment ground by dropping aluminium particles, for example. To date, the first tests have indeed started in Japan.