Interesting read, substituting wood for aluminum (or various other durable materials), in satellite shells, to reduce space debris and upper atmosphere pollution (during reentry): Japanese pairing looking into using wood to build satellites
I didn't have time to read them but the reason they went from wood to metal in airplanes is that aluminum is far stronger per pound than wood and fuel is expensive.
The delignified wood mentioned in the Ars article seems kind of interesting. I was also reminded of an article I saw several years ago on nanocrystalline cellulose (which I haven't followed since reading that article, so I don't know any recent developments there).
That's not always true, until the days of high temperature materials needed for heating as the result of frictional drag from high speed supersonic flight. Wood was the material of choice for many years including the era into World War I. Most all of Europe's forests were done due the the pre-Colombian Era for the purpose of shipbuilding. One of the ways of determining if a colonial era antique is from the Americas or Europe was the width of the boards as nearly all old growth wood was no longer available in Europe. Nearly all wood desirable for aircraft was imported from North America, South America and Finland and Russia. Spruce from North America, and mahogany from Central and South America and Baltic Birch plywood from Russia and Finland. The switch to aluminum was the result of scarcity of imported woods, not the superiority of aluminum. Woods have structural bulk and light weight. Aluminum structures buckle and bend, wood does not, just as wood studs in building houses are still far superior to steel studs and plastic composites; plywood being the exception. One reason the aircraft industry switched to aluminum was that wood rots in wet climates. The Fokker airliner in which the great Notre Dame coach Knute Rochne was killed was due to rotted wood in the wings. The de Havilland Mosquito of WWII was probably one of the most successful military aircraft. It was lighter and faster than any equivalent constructed of aluminum. In the dawn of the space age, sheet aluminum was "honeycombed" in attempts to mimic the structure of wood. However, it was balsa wood that NASA chose for the impact sphere of the Ranger Project that went to the moon, before the first successful lunar landing of Surveyor 7. The switch to fiber composites is another attempt to mimic the structural qualities of wood. Wood, when glued with phenolic based glues have operational temperatures of over 400 degrees F. Epoxide matrix carbon fiber composites have functional temperatures of 100 degrees less. Wood is a natural insulator which is a plus in the environs of space. It is also much better in absorbing, capturing and retaining micro meteroids to protect internal structures and electronic components. Wood remains as one of the miracles of nature developed over several hundred million years.
I wouldn't know what to say. Material science is more than a black art and the lessons learned from 60 years of satellite operation have taught lessons learned. Bob Wilson
@Georgina Rudkus hit many favorite themes de Havilland Mosquito was built by temporarily unemployed piano makers.
Forget the conventional wisdom that wood is a fragile and temporary material. Some bristlecone pine trees are still alive after two thousand years. Inyo National Forest- Nature
