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Technology is getting back to nature with a satellite that is mostly made from wood. It is just 10cm cubed in size. The Woodsat is the idea of Jari Makinen, co-founder of Arctic Astronautics. Mr Makinen tested his device in the stratosphere. A weather balloon took it to an altitude of 30km above Earth. The balloon exploded and Woodsat safely came back to Earth. All communications equipment survived the harsh conditions as it came back.
Makinen plans to launch Woodsat into space this year. He started a company to produce wooden copies of orbit-ready satellites. He explained: "I've always enjoyed making model planes...Having worked in the space education field, this got me wondering why we don't fly any wooden materials into space." He thought of the idea for Woodsat in 2017 and "the project just snowballed". He found a commercial backer to help him realise his dream.
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