Question: Which of the following space agency has proposed to send first wooden satellite, named as WISA Woodsat, into the space?
a) NASA
b) ISRO
c) ESA
d) None of these
Answer: (c)
Related Facts:-
- WISA Woodsat will be the world’s first wooden satellite to sent to space by European Space Agency (ESA).
- European Space Agency (ESA) has planned to put the WISA Woodsat on Earth’s orbit by the end of this year.
- The mission of the satellite is to test the applicability of wooden materials like plywood in spacecraft structures and expose it to extreme space conditions.
- The satellite will be tested in extreme space conditions as heat, cold, vacuum and radiation, for an extended period of time.
- It will be launched to space by the end of 2021 with a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the Mahia Peninsula launch complex in New Zealand.
- The satellite, designed and built in Finland will orbit at around 500-600 km altitude in a roughly polar Sun-synchronous orbit.
- WISA Woodsat is a 10x10x10 cm nano satellite built up from standardised boxes and surface panels made from plywood.
- Designers have placed the wood in a thermal vacuum chamber to keep dry when its in space.
- They have also added a very thin aluminium oxide layer to minimise vapour coming from the wood and to protect it from erosive effects of atomic oxygen.
- Woodsat’s only non-wooden external parts are corner aluminium rails used for its deployment into space and a metal selfie stick.
- The selfie stick with its camera can take pictures of the satellite and look how the plywood is behaving.
By – Rajesh Tripathi