At the International Space Station (ISS), a global study directed by Kyoto University evaluated and verified the exceptional durability of space wood. The experiment’s findings indicated that the samples used for the wooden artificial satellite LignoSat had little deterioration and good durability.
The study team carried out a preliminary examination of the wood samples that were taken from space by Astronaut Koichi Wakata and brought to Earth from the ISS on SpaceX CRS-26, a Commercial Resupply Service mission, including strength tests and elemental and crystal structural investigations.
LignoSat Is An Ambitious Project
Tests showed no signs of breakdown or deformations, such as cracking, warping, peeling, or surface damage, despite the harsh conditions of outer space, which included major temperature variations and exposure to powerful cosmic rays and hazardous solar particles for ten months.
After being exposed to space, three wood specimens underwent testing and showed no distortion. No mass change was seen in any of the wood specimens before or after space exposure, according to the experiment’s findings.
The study team has established that LignoSat, which NASA and JAXA plan to launch together in 2024, would probably make use of Magnolia wood (also known as “Hoonoki” in Japanese), due to its perfect qualities.
Magnolia was chosen because of its generally great workability, dimensional stability, and strength.
The LignoStella Space Wood Project will be introduced by Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry together in April 2020. On the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo of the ISS, they carried out space exposure tests for more than 290 days in 2022.
The study team is looking at the basic mechanism of nano-level material degradation in advance of the planned launch of a wooden artificial spacecraft in 2024. Their research could result in strong, effective wood products for novel applications.
