Sumitomo Forestry, a Japanese company, and Kyoto University are jointly building the world's first wooden satellite. To be successful in building it by 2023, Sumitomo Forestry has already begun research on tree growth and the use of wood components in space.
Takao Doi, a professor at Kyoto University and a Japanese astronaut, told the BBC: "The next step in the research is to create an engineering model of the satellite, then we will produce a flight model."
Doi went to the International Space Station in March 2008 as an astronaut. He was the first human to launch a boomerang in space during that mission. The boomerang was designed to work in microgravity.
Sumitomo Forestry is part of the Sumitomo Group. The company says it will be made of wood that is highly tolerant to temperature and sun changes.
According to the World Economic Forum, about six thousand satellites are orbiting the earth. About 60 percent of this is space garbage.
Research firm Euroconsult estimates that an average of 990 satellites will be launched each year this decade. As a result, by 2028, the number of satellites in orbit may be about 15 thousand.
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