European Space Agency (ESA) will launch world’s first wooden satellite

The European Space Agency (ESA) has planned to launch the world’s first wooden satellite. It is going to be launched from New Zealand. It will be launched from a Rocket Lab Electron rocket by the end of 2021. The satellite is the brainchild of Jari Makinen.

About the Satellite

• The satellite, WISA Woodsat, is a nanosatellite. It is 10cm on each side, length, height, and width.
• The sensors of the satellite have been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and designers have placed the wood in a thermal vacuum chamber to keep it dry.
• A very thin aluminium oxide layer has been used to minimize the vapour coming from the wood and to protect it from the erosive effects of atomic oxygen. The non-wooden external parts are made up of aluminium rails.

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