Posted on 06/14/2021 6:30:18 PM PDT by hoagy62
Toothpicks. Tables. Crates. Spoons.
Satellites?
An ambitious project will send a tiny wooden satellite into orbit later this year to see if it can stand up to the brutal conditions of space.
The WISA Woodsat is a 4-inch (10-centimeter) square satellite that's scheduled for a fall launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket in New Zealand. Getting to orbit is only part of the adventure. Once there, the team will monitor the little cube to see how its plywood build stands up to cold, heat, radiation and the vacuum of space.
Woodsat is the brainchild of Jari Makinen, co-founder of CubeSat replica kit company Arctic Astronautics. The European Space Agency, or ESA, is providing a suite of sensors to track the satellite's performance and will also help with pre-flight testing.
"The base material for plywood is birch, and we're using basically just the same as you'd find in a hardware store or to make furniture," said Woodsat chief engineer and Arctic Astronatics co-founder Samuli Nyman in an ESA statement last week.
The plywood used in the satellite has been dried out and treated to give it a better chance of standing up to space conditions. Woodsat's team expects the exterior to darken, but will also be looking to see if any cracks develop while it's in orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
From the Uganda Air Force??
I don’t suppose termites will be a problem.
I assume that air will leak through the while thing over time.
I recommend a good exterior stain with UV protection.
Awfully heavy. And they’d have to somehow get any trapped gasses out of the wood or it would swell and/or crack in a vacuum. I’m sure they’ve thought of all these things and more. Just seems an odd endeavor.
lots of duct tape, vise grips, super glue, baling wire.
Sounds like my first car.
Plywood is too expensive for space use.
Only if the mate with tardagrades
Maybe coat it with flex seal
Makes space debris a thing of the past. The thing starts to wear out send it on a steep trajectory back.
Well, re-entry won’t be a problem...
Sprucenik
The adhesive is the weak point.
Real cabinet/wood workers would have used dovetail joints for a friction fit.
Should have done a pre test on the ISS and left a 10cm square chunk of plywood outside on a arm to "air out".
I don’t know, but I love it!
I agree with the UV protection the sunlight will degrade the wood fast without a gold foil rap around the outside. Never thought how near zero kelvin will affect wood but out gassing the oxygen from the wood would limit any combustion.
“Wooden Ships On The Water
Very Free!
And Easy.”
It’s tiny less than a half foot cubed
I guess I won’t bother with looking for it via the Heavens Above website
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