World’s First Wooden Satellite, Developed in Japan, Heads to Space

Takao Doi, a former Japanese astronaut and professor at Kyoto University, holds an engineering model of LignoSat during an interview with Reuters at his laboratory at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, on Oct. 25, 2024. Irene Wang/Reuters

KYOTO—The world’s first wooden satellite, built by Japanese researchers, was launched into space on Tuesday, in an early test of using timber in lunar and Mars exploration.

LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, will be flown to the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission, and later released into orbit about 250 miles above the Earth.