Plant Cuttings

As much as I try to offer variety in the posts on this site, there’s one topic that I keep returning to, wood. The utility of this natural product to humanity never ceases to amaze me (as it also does authors such as John Perlin in A forest journey, and Roland Ennos in The wood age (Christopher Roosen)). Some commentators even go so far as saying that “Wood and Cellulose Civilized Man” (Mahiar Max Hamedi et al., 2025). In other words, Wood is good. And worth celebrating.

So, and unapologetically, this week’s post – and the one, or two, that follow – considers some recently-discovered – or rediscovered – uses of tree products.

First a use that revisits – and provides an important update on – a post from 2024.

Wooden satellite

This image, entitled “Magnolia obovata, Jindai Botanical Garden, Tokyo, Japan” and by Qwert1234, is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

In a Plant Cutting entitled “Japanese wooden satellite…”, the aptly-named LignoSat was considered. LignoSat is a satellite whose external housing is – mainly – made of wood from magnolia. [Ed. – for more about why wood was being investigated for this use, see Bob Yirka, and here]. At the time of posting that item the satellite had not been launched. By way of an update on that story, it’s good to be able to share news that it has now been launched.

“LignoSat, a coffee mug-size satellite made from magnolia wood, was successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) [(Vajiram)[ in December 2024” (Ben Turner).

And, if you’re wondering why a wooden satellite, “Wood doesn’t burn or rot in the lifeless vacuum of space [Donavyn Coffey], but it will incinerate into a fine ash upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere — making it a surprisingly useful, biodegradable material for future satellites (Ben Turner)*. Furthermore, “Spacecraft made from metal are also expensive and pose a threat to the ISS [Isobel Whitcomb], other spacecraft carrying humans and — if they’re big enough to survive reentry — people on Earth too [(Ben Turner)]” (Ben Turner). Overall, “Wooden satellites like LignoSat should theoretically be less harmful as space junk, according to the researchers” (Ben Turner).

And what will LignoSat be doing in orbit? Essentially, trying to prove both the principle and the concept (Louise Downing; Ranorex) that wooden satellites are feasible. “Researchers will use sensors to evaluate strain on the wood and measure its responses to temperature and radiation in space. Geomagnetic levels will also be monitored to determine whether the geomagnetic field can penetrate the body of the wooden satellite and interfere with its technological capabilities. Investigating uses for wood in space could lead to innovative solutions in the future” (Andrew Lloyd).

“LignoSat will stay in the orbit for six months, with the electronic components onboard measuring how wood endures the extreme environment of space, where temperatures fluctuate from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes as it orbits from darkness to sunlight. … LignoSat will also gauge wood’s ability to reduce the impact of space radiation on semiconductors” (Kantaro Komiya & Irene Wang).

We trust that this satellite doesn’t suffer the same fate that has apparently befallen another Japanese extra-terrestrial adventure (Rachel Fieldhouse)…

* Internally, LignoSat contains aluminium frames, stainless-steel shafts (Ben Turner), and variously-materialled electronics; so it’s not entirely wooden. But, what is noteworthy is that “The final design used 10 cm long honoki (Kei Nishida) magnolia wood (from Magnolia obovata) panels assembled with a Japanese wood-joinery method” (Andrea Lloyd). That traditional wood-joinery method is known as the blind miter dovetail joint, which connects the wood panels to each other without using glue, nails, or screws (Andrea Lloyd). So, it looks like the outer shell of the satellite is entirely wooden.

REFERENCE

Mahiar Max Hamedi et al., 2025. Wood and cellulose: the most sustainable advanced materials for past, present, and future civilizations. Advanced Materials 37(22): 2415787; https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202415787