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Agence France-Presse

The world’s first wooden satellite has blasted off on a SpaceX rocket, its Japanese developers said, as part of a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Scientists at Japan’s Kyoto University expect the wooden material to burn up when the device re-enters the atmosphere – potentially providing a way to avoid generating metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth.
These metal particles may negatively affect both the environment and telecommunications, the developers say.
Each side of the boxlike experimental satellite, named LignoSat, measures just 10cm (four inches).

It was launched on an unmanned rocket from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Kyoto University’s Human Spaceology Centre said.
The satellite, installed in a special container prepared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, “flew into space safely”, it said on Tuesday in a post on X.
A spokeswoman for LignoSat’s co-developer Sumitomo Forestry said the launch had been “successful”.
It “will arrive at the ISS soon, and will be released to outer space about a month later” to test its strength and durability, she said.
Data will be sent from the satellite to researchers who can check for signs of strain and determine if the satellite can withstand extreme changes in temperature.
“Satellites that are not made of metal should become mainstream,” Takao Doi, a former Japanese astronaut and special professor at Kyoto University who helped develop the satellite, said at a press conference earlier this year.


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Japan blasts world’s first wooden satellite into space – with a little help from SpaceX

Japan

LignoSat, the world’s first satellite made from wood, developed by scientists at Kyoto University in Japan and logging company Sumitomo Forestry. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP

Takao Doi, a former Japanese astronaut and professor at Kyoto University in Japan, holds an engineering model of LignoSat at his laboratory last month. Photo: Reuters

Huawei and Malaysia’s 5G future: unpacking the embrace of Chinese tech

Malaysia has been under significant US pressure to reconsider any future relationship with Huawei. Photo: Shutterstock

The Huawei logo is seen near the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: EPA-EFE

A woman walks past a logo of Maxis at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last year. Photo: Xinhua

People use their mobile phones in Bangkok. Thailand’s largest mobile operator announced a collaboration with Huawei earlier this month Photo: Bloomberg

A person tests the speed of Huawei 5G at an event in London, England. Photo: Xinhua

Malaysia’s Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has indicated that a decision on the 5G tender will be made soon. Photo: AFP

An Ericsson branded robot at a trade fair. The Swedish company won the contract to develop Malaysia’s first 5G network in 2021. Photo: dpa

Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on June 18. Photo: Xinhua

Anwar Ibrahim looks at semiconductor wafers on display during the opening of the Infineon Technologies’ new semiconductor complex in Kulim, Malaysia, in August. Photo: Bloomberg

Donald Trump returning to the White House after next month’s US elections could complicate Malaysia’s bid to position itself as a geopolitically neutral jurisdiction. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Construction work under way last year in Kelantan, Malaysia, on the East Coast Rail Link. Photo: Xinhua

Japan space firm aims to preserve world’s languages by planting disc on moon

The moon is seen rising behind the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. Japan’s ispace Inc. aims to plant Unesco’s disc on  the moon later this year. Photo: Xinhua

Japan to test technology to destroy ‘small and fast’ asteroid set to collide with Earth

An asteroid and asteroid explorer Hayabusa-2. Photo: AP

JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 probe’s sample drops to Earth in South Australia, after landing on and gathering material from an asteroid some 300 million km from Earth. Photo: AFP

Japanese company aims to put wooden satellite in orbit – and it’s working on a wooden skyscraper, too

Japan plans to launch the wooden satellite in 2023. Photo: Kyoto University/ Sumitomo Forestry

Satellites made of wood would help reduce space junk around the Earth. Photo: Shutterstock

News

Asia

East Asia

Data will be sent from the satellite to Japanese researchers to determine if it can withstand extreme changes in temperature


Data will be sent from the satellite to Japanese researchers to determine if it can withstand extreme changes in temperature.


Space

SpaceX

International Space Station (ISS)