* cheaper material
* naturally dampens vibrations -> can potentially help sensitive instruments
* naturally insulates heat better -> saves power on heating
* doesn't block radio frequencies -> lower drag in low orbits -> 50% longer orbital time
* fully burns up on re-entry
downsides is that wood is porous and full of things that dont do well in extreme cold and vacuum. These wont last long, will become very brittle, and have the potential of offgassing things that hardware doesnt like.
Wonder about suitability for habitat construction, especially extraterrestrially. Apparently some plants have been grown in regolith samples. Would be wild if there’s a way to close the cycle on building materials very quickly.
Some Silicon Valley startup will probably come up with the innovative idea of building ships from wood and propelling them with wind power. As long as they are adding AI it will probably be worth a few billion investment .
I wonder if they thought about offgassing... Even without materials as flimsy as that, offgassing from things one totally won't expect it is a big problem with satellites. Heat cycles due to night/day side changing every 90 minutes or so + vacuum, makes it a really hard problem to solve. Just can't expect it to work with wood.
It’s called engineered bamboo [1] but it’s not widely used yet as a load bearing material because manufacturers are still working on certifying it with building code organizations (and it may not be strong enough).
I could have sworn I remember hearing about some historical satellites involving wood in some way and I guess it was this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanhui_Shi_Weixing
>The successful recovery of an FSW-0 recoverable satellite in 1974 established China as the third nation to launch and recover a satellite
>A novel feature of the spacecraft's re-entry module was the use of impregnated oak, a natural material, as the ablative material for its heat shield.
Edit: There's more! As usual, Scott Manley has it covered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxYP9fLMmk
I know we’re not supposed to make comments that don’t contribute anything, but that’s really hckin cool.
* have mercy on me dang
https://archive.is/3qot3
Related (same company) on this recycled post from econo:
Wooden satellite heads to space in Mars exploration test (105 points, 2024, 71 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42051687
Japan to launch first wooden satellite to combat space pollution (55 points, 2024, 17 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39414641
Related - different company:
Woodsat: A Space Agency Will Launch a Tiny, Wooden Satellite (105 points, 2021, 18 comments)https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27549097
Lately high-rise buildings made of wood have been going up in Japan, too:
https://metropolisjapan.com/why-wooden-architecture-is-makin...
https://www.decn.co.jp/?p=167777
https://www.obayashi.co.jp/en/works/detail/work_2753.html
Interesting… apparently the advantages are:
downsides is that wood is porous and full of things that dont do well in extreme cold and vacuum. These wont last long, will become very brittle, and have the potential of offgassing things that hardware doesnt like.
Wonder about suitability for habitat construction, especially extraterrestrially. Apparently some plants have been grown in regolith samples. Would be wild if there’s a way to close the cycle on building materials very quickly.
Next, we'll be building Treeships.
https://hyperioncantos.fandom.com/wiki/Treeship
Some Silicon Valley startup will probably come up with the innovative idea of building ships from wood and propelling them with wind power. As long as they are adding AI it will probably be worth a few billion investment .
Propelling ships with hydrogen or methane made with wind power is the most probable path for fuel in the next decades.
This would be too reasonable.
worth a punt
I wonder if they thought about offgassing... Even without materials as flimsy as that, offgassing from things one totally won't expect it is a big problem with satellites. Heat cycles due to night/day side changing every 90 minutes or so + vacuum, makes it a really hard problem to solve. Just can't expect it to work with wood.
may be a material of future - "compressed" wood stronger and lighter than steel https://www.fastcompany.com/91334748/superwood-stronger-than...
"has a 50% greater tensile strength than steel and a strength-to-weight ratio that’s 10 times better. "
Nile red made a fun video about the original prototype (transparent wood)!
what about bamboo? could that be "compressed" and used? bc that stuff grows like crazy and is easy to harvest.
It’s called engineered bamboo [1] but it’s not widely used yet as a load bearing material because manufacturers are still working on certifying it with building code organizations (and it may not be strong enough).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineered_bamboo
Uh...nothing new here....been done many, many years ago because...easy way to stealth a satellite...
Clever idea to avoid the aluminum
Ok clanker