Japanese Wooden Satellites

A Japanese startup called Sumitomo Forestry is teaming up with Kyoto University to develop the first wooden satellites.  The goal of the project is to minimize the amount of space junk that has been accumulating in orbit over the last decades.  Satellites made out of wood, the theory goes, could simply burn up upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere without leaving tiny alumina particles in the upper atmosphere for years like metal satellites do upon re-entry.