Finnish Company to Launch World’s First Wooden Satellite Before Year’s End

Arctic Astronautics, a Finnish company, plans to launch the world’s first wooden satellite, Woodsat, into orbit before the end of the year. The mini satellite will carry sensors on board, including a pressure sensor and an LED with a photoresistor, which can be used to monitor the satellite’s condition. It will have a selfie stick as well, with a pair of onboard cameras that can take pictures of the satellite. The team hopes that the end result will be beautiful and inspiring as well as functional

Jari Makinen, the company’s founder said he was inspired by his hobby of making model planes. His company flew a wooden satellite aboard a weather balloon in 2017 and decided to upgrade their plans to a fully orbital satellite to be launched by New Zealand company Rocket Lab. The satellite, which measures roughly 10cm on each side, is constructed from simple materials and weighs just one kilogram.

“In the end, Woodsat is simply a beautiful object in terms of traditional Nordic design and simplicity; it should be very interesting to see it in orbit,” said Makinen. “Our hope is it helps inspire people to take [an] increased interest in satellites and the space sector as something that already touches all our lives and is only going to get bigger in [the] future.”