Development of a Wooden CubeSat-LignoSat

抄録

Kyoto University is now developing “LignoSat,” a 1-U-sized wooden satellite to investigate the possibility of using wood in space. Demonstrating the reliability of wood as a spacecraft’s structural material may lead to the creation of a new “Space Wood Industry” in the future. The main missions of LignoSat are to investigate the effects of the space environment on the micro-structure of wood. The characteristics of LignoSat were investigated by a numerical simulation as well as vacuum and vacuum-thermal tests, the results of which show that LignoSat has a thermal stability inside the wooden structure to perform nominal operations.