Japanese scientists are preparing to launch a satellite made of wood into space

And it’s not a joke at all. The joint project has been in development since 2020, and last year the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) joined in, taking it upon itself to send samples of three types of wood to the ISS, where they were placed in the Kibo module for almost 10 months.

Last week, the samples were retrieved for research, and already the first results have shown – the wood has stood up well to the tests of open space.

The best of the three was magnolia. Thanks to its natural elasticity, it was virtually unaffected by deformation, decay, cracking and other defects, and its weight was almost unchanged.