Space: the Wooden Frontier
upstart writes:
Humans have relied on forests and trees -- for shelter, food, and fuel -- from the earliest times. As technology has advanced, timber has been utilized for buildings, ships, and railroads. And now we may be on the verge of taking wood into space.
[...] [Wood] is considerably more sustainable than advanced alternatives, and its disposal -- especially when dropped from orbit into the upper atmosphere -- is complete and without harmful byproducts.
Moreover, earlier investigations -- in earth-bound labs -- have demonstrated wood's surprising ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures, from -150 to 150 degrees Celsius. Simulated near-vacuum conditions also resulted in negligible structural deterioration of the wood.
[...] "Wood's ability to withstand simulated low earth orbit -- or LEO -- conditions astounded us," explains Koji Murata, head of the space-wood research effort and member of the Biomaterials Design Lab at Kyoto University's graduate school of agriculture.
"We now want to see if we can accurately estimate the effects of the harsh LEO environment on organic materials."
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