A SpaceX Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station at 9:52 AM EST on November 5th carrying over 6,000 lbs of cargo along with one small

World’s first wooden satellite shares material with samurai sword sheaths

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2024-11-06 01:30:03

A SpaceX Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station at 9:52 AM EST on November 5th carrying over 6,000 lbs of cargo along with one small, unique prototype. On Tuesday, the company’s 31st resupply mission for NASA delivered the world’s first satellite built using wooden parts. More specifically, LignoSat is made with honoki, a magnolia tree native to Japan whose wood was historically used to craft samurai sword sheaths.

The origins of LignoSat (named after the Latin word for wood, “lignum”) date back to 2017, and come from former NASA astronaut and engineer, Takao Doi. At the time, Doi wondered if future human explorers on the moon and Mars could one day turn to materials other than steel and concrete to construct safe, resilient buildings. Speaking to The New York Times on Tuesday, Doi’s collaborator explained how history’s earliest, wooden airplanes soon served as jumping off point.

“…[W]hy not make a satellite with wood, too?” asked Koji Murata, a Kyoto University professor of forest and biomaterials science.