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

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.