World's First Wooden Satellite Launched Into Space

LignoSat, a satellite made from wood and developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry, shown during a press conference in May, 2024. STR / JIJI PRESS/AFP/File
LignoSat, a satellite made from wood and developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry, shown during a press conference in May, 2024. STR / JIJI PRESS/AFP/File
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World's First Wooden Satellite Launched Into Space

LignoSat, a satellite made from wood and developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry, shown during a press conference in May, 2024. STR / JIJI PRESS/AFP/File
LignoSat, a satellite made from wood and developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry, shown during a press conference in May, 2024. STR / JIJI PRESS/AFP/File

The world's first wooden satellite has blasted off on a SpaceX rocket, its Japanese developers said Tuesday, part of a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Scientists at Kyoto University expect the wooden material to burn up when the device re-enters the atmosphere -- potentially providing a way to avoid generating metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth, AFP reported.
These particles may negatively impact both the environment and telecommunications, the developers say.
Each side of the box-like experimental satellite, named LignoSat, measures just 10 centimeters (four inches).
It was launched on an unmanned rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Kyoto University's Human Spaceology Center said.
The satellite, installed in a special container prepared by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, "flew into space safely", it said in a post on X.
A spokeswoman for LignoSat's co-developer Sumitomo Forestry told AFP the launch had been "successful".
It "will arrive at the ISS soon, and will be released to outer space about a month later" to test its strength and durability, she said.
Data will be sent from the satellite to researchers who can check for signs of strain and determine if the satellite can withstand extreme changes in temperature.
"Satellites that are not made of metal should become mainstream," Takao Doi, an astronaut and special professor at Kyoto University, said at a press conference earlier this year.



Prince William Begins a Visit to South Africa That Focuses on Climate and the Environment

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales attends the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Sept. 5, 2024 in London. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales attends the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Sept. 5, 2024 in London. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Prince William Begins a Visit to South Africa That Focuses on Climate and the Environment

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales attends the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Sept. 5, 2024 in London. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales attends the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Sept. 5, 2024 in London. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Britain's Prince William will speak with young environmentalists and local fishermen during a visit to South Africa starting Monday that will see his annual Earthshot Prize award $1.2 million in grants to five organizations for innovative environmental ideas.

The 42-year-old heir to the throne will also attend a global wildlife summit and spend time at a sea rescue institute during his four days in Cape Town, with the centerpiece of his trip the Earthshot awards ceremony on Wednesday night.

He'll use the visit to highlight other issues close to his heart, like the work of rangers on the frontline of conservation efforts, officials said.

William, the Prince of Wales, last visited Africa in 2018, but he has a strong connection to the continent. William traveled to Africa as a boy after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997. He and his wife, Kate, got engaged at a wildlife conservancy in Kenya in 2010. And he said he came up with the idea for the Earthshot awards while in Namibia in 2018.

"Africa has always held a special place in my heart as somewhere I found comfort as a teenager, where I proposed to my wife, and most recently as the founding inspiration behind the Earthshot Prize," William said in a statement ahead of his visit.

Kate, Princess of Wales, and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are not traveling to South Africa. Kate, 42, only recently returned to some public duties after completing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.

William's trip follows soon after his brother Harry, the Duke of Sussex, visited South Africa and neighboring Lesotho last month for a youth charity he set up with a member of Lesotho's royal family.

William formed the Earthshot Prize through his Royal Foundation in 2020 to encourage new ideas to solve environmental problems and it launched in 2021. The first three awards ceremonies were held in Britain, the U.S. and Singapore. William said he wanted this year's awards to inspire young people involved in climate action across Africa, a continent of some 1.5 billion people that contributes the least to global warming but is especially vulnerable to climatic shocks.

The wider southern African region is currently experiencing its worst drought and hunger crisis in decades, with 27 million people severely affected, according to the United Nations.

The Earthshot prizes are awarded in five categories: protecting and restoring nature, clean air, reviving oceans, building a waste-free world and fixing the climate. This year's finalists include a company in Kenya that develops solar-powered systems for homes, a group in Ecuador that brings Indigenous communities together to protect forests, and a conservation project in Kazakhstan that is saving the critically endangered Saiga antelope from extinction.

The awards ceremony will be held in a temporary, reusable dome that has been erected on a field next to a sports stadium in Cape Town. The 470-foot-long dome has hosted other events in South Africa and will be packed to be used again after the Earthshot prizes, organizers said.

While climate change and threats to the environment are at the center of William's visit, he will briefly break away from those topics to go to a high school in an underprivileged Cape Town neighborhood, where he's expected to join kids at a rugby practice.

Rugby is one of South Africa's most popular sports and the country's national team, the Springboks, are the reigning world champions. William is also a rugby follower.

“I can promise that you will see the Prince of Wales playing some rugby,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said of the planned school visit.