Tuesday 29 December 2020

space waste

In order to combat the accumulation of more space junk and the inevitable future consequences of it returning to Earth, the company Sumitomo Forestry is collaborating with Kyoto University to create satellites with a wood housing, experimenting with what types of lumber fair best during launch and in orbit. Appreciating the long-term impact is particularly important as swarms of microsatellites are deployed with a very specific and limited life-span. There is presently some nine-thousand tonnes of human-made debris poised to rain down on us or leave us grounded someday.