Space

8875 readers

100 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.

Rules

Be respectful and inclusive.
No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
Engage in constructive discussions.
Share relevant content.
Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Use appropriate language and tone.
Report violations.
Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Related Communities

🔭 Science

🚀 Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography

Other Cool Links

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

129

Japan to launch world’s first wooden satellite to combat space pollution (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The timber satellite has been built by researchers at Kyoto University and the logging company Sumitomo Forestry in order to test the idea of using biodegradable materials such as wood to see if they can act as environmentally friendly alternatives to the metals from which all satellites are currently constructed.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, this is to reduce atmospheric pollution when satellites deorbit, which is a separate problem from ensuring satellites deorbit in the first place. I hadn't heard that being an issue, but can see how it could be once the first generation of megaconstellation satellites (Starlink, Kuiper, and Guowang) reach the end of their life.

Incidentally Japan + Rocket Lab just launched a spacecraft to collect data for future orbital rendezvous and deorbit missions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Looks like the research into upper atmosphere metallic contamination hasn't been studied much yet, they just know it's becoming more prevalent, but don't know that problems that creates yet. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2313374120