Wooden Satellite Being Tested by Arctic Astronautics in Finland
In this age of exotic materials and 3D printing, a wooden satellite may sound a little ... steampunk. But that is the concept currently being tested by Arctic Astronautics, a startup company based in Finland.
"From the telemetry data we see nicely how the satellite was behaving and now we can see if any changes to our systems are needed. It seems we don't have any major issues."
Samuli Nyman, WISA Woodsat's head engineer.
WISA Woodsat is the world’s first satellite using wood in its primary structure. It is made of WISA-Birch plywood, which is coated against strong UV radiation using a new atomic layer deposition method. The comparison panels are coated with industrial UV lacquer. WISA Woodsat will be launched to space from New Zealand using Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. The mission is exploring the behavior of plywood in space for a period of two years.
The purpose of this stratospheric flight was to test the systems of the wooden satellite and take photos with the camera on the tip of the deployable camera boom. The "selfie stick" was open from the beginning of the flight, and the satellite took photos automatically every 30 seconds and additional images that were triggered from the ground station.
A test model of the WISA Woodsat made a successful stratospheric test flight on Saturday, June 12 from the Heureka Science Center in Vantaa, Finland. The main goal of this short flight was to use the systems and camera equipment of the satellite in space-like conditions. The wooden satellite was launched at 13:25 EEST. It flew for 2 hours and 54 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude 31.2 km (19.3 miles) over the city of Mäntsälä, where the balloon carrying the payload exploded as planned. After that the satellite model and a styrofoam float (for possible landing to a lake or river) started its descent under a parachute, and landed safely in a forest.
After the balloon carrying the wooden satellite was launched – with an audience of about 100 people – the team was able to communicate with the satellite for about 20 minutes until it was out of sight. Then, the recovery team left the site and started the chase: they drove under the balloon, keeping a live connection with the satellite. The team was able to reach its landing area at Herrala, close to Hahmajärvi lake almost immediately after it touched down in a large spruce tree.
Reaching the satellite, however, took some time. It was eventually lowered from the natural habitat of a wooden satellite and transported back to Heureka, where it was examined, and the data recorded by the satellite was backed up.
"Everything went just right", said Samuli Nyman, WISA Woodsat's head engineer. "The only problem was the battery running the ground station. It ran almost out of power. From the telemetry data we see nicely how the satellite was behaving and now we can see if any changes to our systems are needed. It seems we don't have any major issues."
As expected, the space-like conditions of the stratosphere didn't cause any damages to the plywood surface or the structures of the test model.
The actual wooden satellite will be launched with Rocket Lab's Electron rocket to an orbit of over 500 km (310 miles) in altitude. After this successful test flight, the construction of the flight model and its spare is going on as planned. They are expected to be completed by the end of June. The spare will be transported in early July to ESTEC, the technical center of The European Space Agency, in Noordwijk, Netherlands. There it will be tested in a space condition simulator and the satellite will go through a shaking test, which simulates the vibrations and shaking caused by the rocket ride.
After these tests, the team will go on with final preparations of the satellite for the space flight.
(Images provided with Artic Astronautics news release)