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Review

Wood and Wood-Based Materials in Space Applications—A Literature Review of Use Cases, Challenges and Potential

Chair of Space Systems, Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Dresden University of Technology (TUD), 01307 Dresden, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Aerospace 2024, 11(11), 910; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110910
Submission received: 30 September 2024 / Revised: 23 October 2024 / Accepted: 29 October 2024 / Published: 5 November 2024

Abstract

:
Current political and sociological efforts to respond to the need for more environmentally friendly technologies have inspired a revival of wood and wood-based material utilization in space systems. The popularity of these materials has faded since their widespread use in the early days of aerospace engineering. This work reviews the literature to provide an overview of use cases, the motivation for using wood and wood-based materials and the challenges involved. A small number of applications were identified in which wood and wood-based materials were preferred over non-renewable raw materials. They are mainly applied for less-stressed disposable components or as a thermal protection material. It can be shown that the applied wooden materials have advantages such as low production costs, easy availability, easy and environment-friendly decomposition and low weight. However, only a limited number of applications have achieved a high level of technological readiness so far. Properties such as anisotropy and a lack of uniformity, defects in wood, the quantity available material and a lack of standards for the certification of wooden materials represent challenges. These are addressed in the current research, which additionally focuses on sustainable growth, enhanced environmental friendliness and advanced lightweight design.

1. Introduction

Wood was one of the first materials used by universal scholars like Leonardo da Vinci to build flying machines like the aerial screw described in the Manoscritto B di Francia in 1487–1489. During the 19th and early 20th century, wood was a common structural material employed in the beginnings of aerospace science as it was applied by the Wright brothers as the core structural material on the mainframe of the “Kitty Hawk” in the form of timber covered with fabric [1]. Early aviation sandwich structures were made with wood as the core material, as seen in high-performance airplanes like the “De Havilland DH-98 B/TT Mk. 35 Mosquito” or the “Hughes H-4 Hercules”. Their fuselages and additional structures were built with spruce, ash, birch, fir or balsa wood [2,3]. Due to its versatile characteristics such as good sound absorption, electrical and thermal resistance, local availability, easy processing, high tensile strength and low mass leading to a high strength-to-weight ratio, wood was a popular aviation material [1,4]. It retained its importance in the first half of the 20th century due to increased material knowledge and the scarcity of metals. After World War II, lightweight metals and artificial fiber composites soon substituted wood, so that materials from renewable origin disappeared almost entirely from aviation in western countries [1] with the exemplary exception of the lifting body experimental aircraft NASA M2-F1, which was made of plywood [5,6].
In 1987, the Brundtland Report established the first legislative framework for sustainable development with the main objective of intergenerational equity in relation to the use of available resources [7]. Subsequently, this idea has been taken up by the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, discussing various aspects of the long-term sustainability of outer space activities. The Committee has incorporated the Sustainable Development Goals created in the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ into its work, which were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 [8]. The guideline D.1 of the Committee’s ‘Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities’ states the following: “3. States and international intergovernmental organizations should promote the development of technologies that minimize the environmental impact of manufacturing and launching space assets and that maximize the use of renewable resources and the reusability or repurposing of space assets to enhance the longterm sustainability of those activities.” (p. 37 of [9]). The ‘ESA Green Agenda’ incorporated sustainability into the European Space Agency’s mission to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement as well as the European Green Deal [10]. This sets the use of materials from renewable sources with a lower environmental impact on the agenda of the space industry.
To clarify the terminology used in this review, the term “wood” refers to the untreated raw material obtained from the secondary xylem of felled trees [11]. All materials that are created by breaking up wood into structural elements of different sizes (strands, boards, particles, veneers or fibers) and binding them with adhesives to a composite material are hereafter referred as “wood-based materials” or “wooden materials” [12]. Within the scope of this review, “renewable materials” can be understood as all materials with a proportion of coming from a re-growing origin.
With the focus on wood and wood-based materials, cork is excluded from this analysis. Its reliability has been proven for a wide range of mission types and thermal requirements as a thermal protection material on hot structures in isolative use cases or for re-entry in ablative use cases (e.g., Ariane 1–5, Space Shuttle, Vega, Falcon 9, Exo-Mars, REXUS, …) [13,14,15]; however, cork is, scientifically speaking, not considered a wooden material, even though it is originally part of a tree trunk [16]. Cork is an independent material formed from the cork cambium or phellogen and is species-specific in most tree species, generally being only a few cell layers thick, except for the cork oak, in which layers are formed which are several centimeters thick [17,18].
Due to the already successful application of wood and wood-based materials in aviation as well as policies and institutional agendas, the application of wood and wood-based material in space systems suggests itself as a research topic. In addition, there is currently a clear trend, particularly among launch vehicle developers, towards research and development for reusable, more sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies [19,20]. Therefore, the motivation of this paper is to investigate the current state of the art of the application of materials made from wood or based on wood. With this, a scientific basis for future research and development in this field can be laid. Castanié et al. have laid a more general foundation for the use of wood and plywood as eco-materials for sustainable mobility and have described some applications mentioned in this paper [21]. However, we aim to go into more detail and emphasize the applications and their special features for space applications. Wooden mock-ups and models are not included in this review as, like the red oak replica of the DS2 geometry within the SPRITE mission, they are used to easily verify simulation results in the early stages of design and verification and there is no intention to apply them in space systems [22].
The structure of this literature review is organized according to the use cases of wood and wood-based materials. The results of the research are therefore presented and described in further detail in the following categories:
  • Application as a structural or construction material;
  • Application as a vibration/shock-absorbing material;
  • Application as a thermal protection material;
  • Application as an ignition material.

2. Application as a Structural or Construction Material

For an application as a structural or construction material, wood and wood-based materials are used with a focus on their mechanical properties. They are generally applied in subjects that must withstand mechanical loads.

2.1. Plywood for the First Manned Rocket

“Bachem Ba 349”, called “Natter”, became the first vertical take-off rocket-powered aircraft. It was developed in 1944/1945, included wooden components, and was first launched on 1 March 1945 [23]. A prototype of the “Bachem Ba 349”, named after its designer Erich Bachem, can be seen in Figure 1a. The “Natter” was developed with the aim of countering the massive bombing raids occurring in the period with cheap and easy-to-manufacture interceptors [24]. The interceptor needed to be a “wear-and-tear fighter” that could be supplied in large numbers and could be flown by non-pilots after a short familiarization period [25]. Out of necessity during World War II, parts of the aircraft were made of plywood, which was still abundantly available [25,26]. Erich Bachem wrote the following in his notes on the interceptors’ design: “Smallest possible production cost, maximum use of wooden parts, reduction of iron. No burden on standard aircraft industry. Exploitation of the large, partly free, timber resource. Repeated use of the most critical airframe and propulsion unit parts by parachute recovery” [27]. The stubby wings were simple rectangular wooden plates without ailerons or flaps. After vertical launch and firing of weapons (in Figure 1b in red color), the pilot was to eject himself from the wooden cockpit by parachute. The wooden part of the fuselage crashed to earth, while the rocket engine descended to the ground on a parachute and could be reused [23]. After several failed launches, unmanned ascents were successful, but the only manned ascent in the spring of 1945 ended in a crash and death of the pilot [24]. Due to these failures, “Bachem Ba 349” was never used [26].

2.2. Surface-to-Air Missile “Rheintochter”

Also towards the end of World War II, the two-stage ground-to-air missile “Rheintochter” was developed on behalf of the Luftwaffe from the end of November 1942 [28,29]. It was named after the mythical Rhine Daughters from Richard Wagner’s opera ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’. A total of 82 test firings were carried out on the solid-fueled rocket until the project was canceled in February of 1945 [29]. All control surfaces of the Rhine daughter are made of varnished plywood. On the fuselage of the top stage, six large backward bent fins are arranged symmetrically in alternation with the steel exhaust nozzles and four large canard-like control surfaces are placed on the pointed nose. The booster stage has four backward-bended fins (as seen in Figure 2a,b) [30,31].

2.3. Rocket-Powered Interceptor “Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1”

On the Soviet side, the rocket-powered interceptor “Bereznyak-Isayev, BI-1” (see Figure 3) was developed during World War II by Aleksandr Bereznyak and Aleksei Isayev [33,34]. Its entire structure was made of plywood, except for assemblies made of duralumin for the undercarriage which extended and retracted with pressure [33]. Equipped with a rocket engine, the first piloted flight of BI-1 took place on 15 May 1942 [35] followed by a production order for the BI-1 and the construction of successive test vehicles (BI-2–BI-7) with a higher range and improved structural design [36]. To prevent a reaction between the wooden parts and the acid of the engine, stainless steel was used to line the engine compartment [35]. Designer Isayev stated “[…] Such an aircraft doesn’t need a factory. It will be made at all the furniture mills. Extraordinary low price and simplicity! Fifty furniture mills will put together twenty airplanes each in a year—that’s already 1000! […]” [33]. After the end of the war, the development and production of the Bereznyak-Isayev aircraft stopped, leaving only seven built examples [35].

2.4. Wooden Nose Cone of a Student Co-Developed Rocket

After the use of wood in missile and rocket-powered systems during the Second World War, the further use of this natural resource was abandoned due to the increasing development of high-performance composite materials like glass and carbon fiber materials and the improved availability of metallic materials [1]. However, the idea of using wood as a structural material was taken up again in 2013. In the context of the SMART Rockets project, a wooden nose cone for a small launch vehicle co-developed by students at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at TUD Dresden University of Technology was designed, built and tested in cooperation with the Chair of Space Systems and the Chair of Wood and Fibre Material Technology [37]. The authors of this review were involved in the project. The nose cone was formed out of a 0.7–0.9 mm thick veneer from the red beech tree. According to co-developer Grasselt-Gille, red beech was considered as increased felling of this tree is being recorded due to climate change and expanded uses are being sought. This species was further chosen to examine the material’s malleability. On top of the cone, a thermoplastic component (in Figure 4 in white color) was attached to achieve the aerodynamic shape that would not have been possible to construct with veneer wood alone [38]. The rocket was never completed and was therefore never launched with a wooden nose cone.

2.5. Wooden Outer Surfaces and Casing on CubeSats

In the field of CubeSat development, the potential of wood-based materials has recently been rediscovered. In December 2020, the Japanese “Space Wood Project” (also known as the “LignoStella-Project”) was unveiled, with plans to launch the world’s first wooden satellite, called “LignoSat”, in 2024 (see Figure 5a) [39,40]. The motivation for the cooperation between the Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry and a team led by former Japanese astronaut Professor Takao Doi of Kyoto University on research and development for this project is the increasing number of satellites. The spacecraft launched in recent decades pose a challenge to unhindered access to space because of the space debris they generate. This research project will allow future satellites, some of which are made of wood, to burn up more easily upon re-entry into the atmosphere, reducing the amount of hazardous materials released into the Earth’s atmosphere [39,41]. Using the transmitting properties of wood, the satellite structure can be simplified by integrating antennas and attitude control systems inside the satellite’s structural elements. Thus, the developed satellite bus with a casing made of wood does not affect electromagnetic waves and geomagnetism, stimulating a rethinking of satellite designs [42].
To pre-study the behavior of wood in space, wood panels made of three different species (wild cherry Yamazakura, Japanese magnolia Honoki and birch) were launched in March 2022 for 10 months to the International Space Station (ISS) for installation on the Japanese Experimental Kibo Module (see Figure 5b). No cracking, wrapping or peeling of the wood was detected in any of the material samples during post-exposure analyses, which speaks for the stability and durability of the wood withstanding strong temperature fluctuations and cosmic radiation. Based on the results, it was decided to focus on magnolia for “LignoSat” (see Figure 6a,b and Figure 7) [40].
From the European side, the Finnish “WISA Woodsat” was unveiled in April 2021, with its outer surfaces made of WISA birch plywood dried in a thermal vacuum chamber and coated with a thin aluminum oxide layer (see Figure 8a). The cooperation between Arctic Astronautics, UPM Plywood and Huld aims to launch “WISA Woodsat” as the first wooden satellite into Earth orbit in 2024 after postponed launches in late 2021 and 2022 [46,47,48]. The aim of the materials science mission is to make space travel more affordable and environmentally friendly and to analyze and evaluate the properties of the biomaterial wood (plywood) in the construction of a satellite under harsh space conditions, including long-term radiation. In this way, the upstream process can be recorded during production in order to compare the environmental impact of the mission with that of a conventional CubeSat mission [48]. The use of wood in the outer surfaces allows the CubeSat to disintegrate more quickly on re-entry, reducing the risk of impact with the ground and leaving fewer metal (often aluminum) particles in the atmosphere [49]. The 1U “WISA Woodsat” has a lightweight, deployable camera boom serving as selfie stick made from a 3D printed metal by Huld (see Figure 8b) [50]. The cameras are designed to observe the wooden panel’s outer surface throughout the mission. Due to the 3D printing of the metal components for the primary structure, the amount of non-renewable material can be limited to a minimum [48]. As with “LignoSat”, a preliminary study was carried out as part of a stratospheric test flight up to 30 km to test “WISA Woodsat”’s communication capabilities, command response, and selfie stick camera [49].

3. Application as a Vibration/Shock-Absorbing Material

In addition to their application as structural materials, wood and wood-based materials are used for structures subject to vibrations, benefiting from good vibration and shock-absorbing properties. This is exemplified by the Ranger spacecraft, which were designed to further explore the Moon with gamma-ray data in flight, study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface and test interplanetary flight. On board each Ranger 3, 4 and 5 spacecraft, all launched in 1962, was a balsa wood capsule with a 65 cm in diameter (see Figure 9 and Figure 10a) [52,53]. An energy-absorbing material was needed for the capsule’s outer casing to protect instruments like the seismometer during impact on the lunar surface at speeds from 130 to 160 km/h [30]. The material needed to have a minimum degree of complexity, possess omnidirectional landing capabilities and dissipate energy from mechanical crushing and the generation of heat within the mission parameters at a minimum weight [54]. As the analysis by NASA showed, the end grain of balsa wood has a higher crushing strength and specific energy absorption (6.89–13.79 MPa; 47.83–56.79 kJ/kg) and can be used as a feasible alternative material to aluminum honeycomb (6.52 MPa; 32.88 kJ/kg) or Styrofoam HD-2 (1.38 MPa; 11.96 kJ/kg) [54]. Therefore, balsa wood was chosen for the spherical impact limiter. To achieve the omnidirectional use of a biologically anisotropic material, a design with a radial orientation of the balsa grain was chosen (see Figure 10a,b). Unfortunately, only the Ranger 4 spacecraft reached the Moon, on its far side and not on its planned trajectory on April 26, 1962 [55]. Ranger 3 and 5 missed the Moon by 368,000 km and 725 km [52,56].

4. Application as a Thermal Protection Material

For applications as thermal protection materials, wood and wood-based materials are used with a focus on their thermal properties. They are mainly applied in subjects that need to withstand thermal loads during re-entry or for insulating structures.

4.1. Thermal Insulation: Balsa Wood Tank Insulation Concept for Saturn V Stages

Balsa wood also was taken into account as an insulation material for the second stage S-IV and third stage S-IVB Saturn V (see Figure 11a), meeting all required properties like lightness, insulative properties and easy formability [59]. The S-IV LH2 tank was 5.5 m in diameter and 10 m in length, while the S-IVB tanks were 6.7 m in diameter and 12.2 m in length [59,60]. This resulted in a large area needing to be insulated with balsa wood as the liner material (see Figure 11b). A review of the available supply of balsa wood in South America showed that the current stocks in South America would not be sufficient to meet the demand [59,60]. This eliminated balsa wood as an ideal insulation material, which was further underlined by lab testing, pointing out internal wood flaws and defects [60]. The idea was adopted to use materials with balsa-like characteristics to develop a synthetic “flawless” balsa wood instead [59]. This led to the development of a three-dimensional fiberglass matrix embedded in a polyurethane block [60]. The fiberglass matrix gave the material its hardness and stability, while the polyurethane promoted good insulation properties. However, the insulation concept, including a natural material —balsa wood—was omitted.

4.2. Impregnated Oak Nose Cap for FSW (Fanhui Shi Weixing) Satellites

The ablative properties of wood were used for the FSW Satellites (Fanhui Shi Weixing, 返回式衛星/返回式卫星, (Eng.: Recoverable Test Satellite)), which were a series of returnable and recoverable reconnaissance satellites launched by China between 1974 and 2016 [62]. The satellites were designed to conduct microgravity and scientific experiments in orbits of 173–493 km with a payload of 150 kg [62]. In the spacecraft’s re-entry module, an ablative impregnated white oak nose cap was applied as part of the thermal protection system [63,64]. The ablative heat shield was around 15 cm thick [65]. In Figure 12a,b, the carbonized heat shield can be seen after atmospheric descent and landing. However, the technical construction reports in the literature and patents available to the authors contain contradictory information [66] and do not directly indicate that the thermal insulation is made of white oak, which is why secondary sources had to be relied upon and no definitive statement can be made about the use of oak.

4.3. Wood-Based Material TPSea Developed at TUD

As the literature shows, the behavior of wooden and wood-based materials in space engineering is largely unknown due to a lack of active operating time in space environment, except for preliminary experiments in sub-orbit or LEO [40,49]. Due to their low density, thermal conductivity and favorable ablation characteristics, they are seen as promising materials for high-temperature components, including the leading edges of stabilizing fins and payload fairings. These flight-critical parts of launch vehicles need to be aerodynamically efficient, lightweight, rigid and, above all, capable of withstanding high heat at stagnation points on exposed structures.
These characteristics led to the idea to develop a wood-fiber-based, ideally 100% bio-based, material called TPSea (see Figure 13a). During further investigation and testing, a focus was placed on its application as a thermal protection material. The material was thus developed at TUD based on patent DE 10 2022 132 031 A1. The material has a density of approx. 0.7–0.9 g/cm3 and a bending strength of 5–15 N/mm2 with an improvement to its mechanical properties currently under development to allow it to withstand significant mechanical stress, potentially allowing for a lighter overall rocket design by reducing the thickness of the metallic base structure.
In cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)), tests of the developed bio-based material in the arc-heated wind tunnel L2K took place with maximum temperatures of ~2200 °C (see Figure 13b). It could be determined that TPSea withstood the thermal environment and was therefore qualified for further development and testing. This led to the design of the experimental SHAMA (Sustainable Heat-protective Ablative Material) and its application for a flight within the REXUS (Rocket Experiments for University Students) program to investigate and evaluate the behavior of a wood-based ablative thermal protection material during the environmental conditions of the REXUS rocket flight. Testing multiple loads and effects—thermal loads, mechanical loads, ablative behavior, outgassing—will demonstrate and improve the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of this material, making the material TPSea flight-proven.

5. Application as Ignition Material

In the 1950s, Russian engineers invented a “pyrotechnic ignition device”, known as PZU, for the uniform ignition of several first-stage engines [68]. Wooden rods in the shape of a ‘T’ made of birch wood are manually inserted into each combustion chamber before launch (see Figure 14a,b) [68,69]. Pyro charges are located at the tip of each PZU and are fitted with a spring-loaded brass wire. When the charges ignite in the combustion chamber, the resulting flame cuts the brass wire and the spring connection interrupts the current circuit to the start control network, giving the ignition signal. When the ignition of all chambers is confirmed, the fuel supply is opened and complete combustion can begin launching the rocket [68]. The wooden structure and the other PZU components burn immediately and harmlessly in the exhaust of the engines and cause no further interactions. A fault in the PZU system is most likely the reason why the Soyuz-2-1b No. 016 rocket failed to launch on 12 March 2016 [68,70].

6. Discussion of Research Results

To evaluate the development status of new technologies, like the application of new materials, an assessment of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) (see Table 1) according to ECSS-E-HB-11A is included in our discussion of the research results [72]. The corresponding TRLs are assigned to the material technologies researched in the review. In this way, a more objective assessment of the development status and an evaluation of the material application can be achieved.
As this literature review shows, there are only a handful of ideas for applications of wood and wood-based materials in aerospace science, of which only a small number have been successfully realized. An overview of the applications described in this review is shown in tabular form in Table 2.
The review shows that a large number of material technologies can be assigned to a medium-to-high TRL. This shows that, in addition to a technological concept, analytical and experimental tests of critical functions and/or a characteristic proof-of-concept have already taken place (TRL 3), like for the “SMART Rockets” or “Saturn V” S-IV and S-IVB tank applications. In its current state, the “TPSea” material reached TRL 4, and soon it will reach a higher TRL after a successful flight within the REXUS experiment SHAMA. The applications on “LignoSat” and “WISA Woodsat” have reached TRL 6 with the testing of wooden components on stratospheric test flights or the KIBO module of the ISS in an operational environment; they are close to TRL 8 at the current stage of development and are soon to be flight qualified. The application on “Rheintochter” reached TRL 7 before its development was discontinued. Similarly, the “Bachem Ba 349” development was discontinued after a fatal flight failure at TRL 7. The balsa application on the “Ranger 3, 4, and 5” spacecraft reached TRL 7 due to an unsuccessful mission. The rocket-powered aircraft “Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1” reached TRL 8 after successful flights during the test phase. Only two applications, the impregnated white oak on the “FSW (Fanhui Shi Weixing)” satellites and birch wood for ignition structure of first stage Soyuz engines have reached TRL 9, making them flight proven through successful mission operations.
From the research results, two functional principles can be derived that support the need for more detailed considerations of the relationship between material structure and material properties and their use case. The principles do not have to work in opposition and can, at best, complement each other to open up new fields of application and cover the desired requirements: the thermal functional principle and the mechanical functional principle.
The mechanical functional principle comes into effect depending on the position and field of application of the individual component within the space system. Mechanical functionality applies to the direct transmission of forces and loads between different components and their interactions at structural interfaces. Furthermore, it allows for induced undesired forces and vibrations to be dissipated during operation, and dampened or eliminated. Wooden structural components were used for the direct transmission of forces and loads in the early designs of launch vehicles like the “Bachem Ba 349”, “Rheintochter”, “Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1” or the wooden nose cone of the student co-developed rocket within the SMART rockets project. In these applica, the materials were chosen with a focus on strength, durability and lightness, i.e., a good strength-to-weight ratio. Wooden materials were chosen as the surface material on the CubeSats “LignoSat” and “WISA Woodsat” due to their good transmitting properties and their ability to decompose quickly during re-entry, making the component not only environmental friendly during production, but also at the end of its lifetime by enhancing fragmentation during re-entry and reducing the number of metal molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. For mechanical suspension, wooden parts were used only for the balsa wood lunar capsule for Ranger Program Block II missions on Ranger 3, 4 and 5. The good energy absorption properties and lightweight nature of the wood were used to dampen vibrations and dissipate forces during the lunar impact.
The thermal functional principle comprises the decoupling of thermal radiation, thermal convection or thermal conduction from one component to the next. Wood was applied successfully in the impregnated oak nose cap of the FSW (Fanhui Shi Weixing) satellites. Additionally, there has been initial research and testing carried out for balsa wood as tank insulation on the second-stage S-IV and third-stage S-IVB Saturn V tanks. In this use case, material properties like being lightweight with good isolative properties due to low thermal conductivity and a high specific heat capacity benefit its use as a thermal protection material. Therefore, thermal insulation capacity and thermal conductivity appear as material properties that are of particular importance when describing the thermal functional principle.
In most of the applications where wood was considered over non-renewable raw materials, the motivation was a lower environmental impact due to a reduction in metallic components, easier workability, lower mass and lower production costs. It was also found that the design flexibility of the material can be an important motivation leading to a number of new designs and innovations.
However, the following disadvantages associated with the growth of naturally grown resources pose challenges for their use in high-tech space engineering [1,73]:
  • Lack of uniformity in properties due to natural growth;
  • Highly anisotropic mechanical properties;
  • Defects in wood (knots, pitch pockets) that reduce strength;
  • Hygroscopic properties allow swelling and shrinking;
  • Changes in mechanical properties, and the susceptibility of wood to being attacked by insects, fungi or microorganisms.
In the use case of second-stage S-IV and third-stage S-IVB Saturn V tank insulation, the anisotropic behavior, as well as a low stock of uniform balsa wood, led to an abandonment of its use, leaving the technology on TRL 3.
As the Second World War was a major technology driver for space developments and technologies transitioned from aerospace applications to space applications, the applications of wooden parts on “Bachem Ba 349”, “Rheintochter”, “Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1” were included in this review. They illustrate the creativity and motivation of engineers to think outside the box and consider alternative materials and flight concepts due to a lack of non-renewable resources.
The following limitations must be taken into account when interpreting the results of this study. Only published literature could be included in this study. Non-patented developments, archival literature, unpublished or rejected literature could not be analyzed. Furthermore, the “File Drawer Problem“ leads to the fact that the authors can consider the real state of the art in sections, as unpublished findings are missing [74].

7. Conclusions and Outlook

As wood has been previously applied successfully as a construction material in aviation, it made sense, from a scientific point of view, to examine the material wood more closely for its potential application in space systems. The literature review has shown that there is only a small number of ideas for the use of wood and wood-based materials in space applications.
It has been observed that, depending on the use case, when focusing either structural or thermal load impact, particular attention should be paid to the properties of the applied wooden materials. For structural applications, more wood-based materials or multi-layer structures with more uniform material properties are preferred, as well as solid woods with high strength. For thermal applications, wooden materials with a high specific heat capacity and low thermal conductivity are primarily used. In general, it was found that a low mass plays an important role in the choice of wood and wood-based materials. In addition, the low environmental impact of using bio-based resources, especially in current times, increases the motivation to use renewable raw materials in order to meet the sustainability targets set by the United Nations, the European Union and the European Space Agency.
However, it can be seen that there are concerns about the use of biologically grown materials, leading to there still being a low number of applications. Therefore, a higher level of trust has to be created for initial applications in space systems by conducting preliminary tests of the most promising wooden materials on stratospheric test flights (“WISA Woodsat”), on the KIBO module of the ISS (“LignoSat”) or the SHAMA experiment of the REXUS program (“TPSea”) to increase the TRLs of the material technologies. Additionally, the development of certification and qualification standards and norms for bio-based materials in space engineering has to be carried out.
Challenges arise when facing the anisotropic material behavior and material defects of the natural grown material. A uniformity in material properties can be achieved by creating more homogeneous materials like wood fiber materials or wood composites on a biological basis.
However, incorporating wood and wood-based materials into space systems can drive technological advancements and propel research in material science and space engineering by offering greater design flexibility. This is demonstrated, for example, by the electromagnetic radiation transmittance properties of wood, as seen in CubeSats like “LignoSat” and “WISA Woodsat”. Such innovations foster advancements in both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial applications, utilizing the unique properties of wood to create materials that are lightweight, resilient and environmentally more sustainable.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, R.G. and C.B.; validation, R.G., C.B. and M.T.; formal analysis, R.G.; investigation, R.G.; data curation, R.G.; writing—original draft preparation, R.G.; writing—review and editing, R.G., C.B. and M.T.; visualization, R.G.; supervision, C.B. and M.T.; project administration, R.G.; funding acquisition, R.G., C.B. and M.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, grant number 031B1329.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Grasselt-Gille for his background information on the SMART Rockets project and his motivation to support the research on this interdisciplinary topic.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the review results.

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Figure 1. (a) “Bachem Ba 349” prototype during a test launch in 1944 [27]; (b) reconstruction of the “Bachem Ba 349” with original parts at “Deutsches Museum” [24].
Figure 1. (a) “Bachem Ba 349” prototype during a test launch in 1944 [27]; (b) reconstruction of the “Bachem Ba 349” with original parts at “Deutsches Museum” [24].
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Figure 2. (a) First “Rheintochter” flack rocket on the missile carriage [32]; (b) reconstruction of the “Rheintochter” with original parts at “Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center” [29].
Figure 2. (a) First “Rheintochter” flack rocket on the missile carriage [32]; (b) reconstruction of the “Rheintochter” with original parts at “Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center” [29].
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Figure 3. Rocket-powered interceptor Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 in September 1941 [36].
Figure 3. Rocket-powered interceptor Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 in September 1941 [36].
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Figure 4. Wooden nose cone of the SMART Rocket launch vehicle [38].
Figure 4. Wooden nose cone of the SMART Rocket launch vehicle [38].
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Figure 5. (a) Illustration of “LignoSat” [41]; (b) space exposure experiment (left) and the three studied solid wood species (right) [40].
Figure 5. (a) Illustration of “LignoSat” [41]; (b) space exposure experiment (left) and the three studied solid wood species (right) [40].
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Figure 6. (a) Engineering model of “LignoSat” Nr. 1 from wild cherry Yamazakura (left) and Japanese magnolia Honoki (right) [43]; (b) Japanese magnolia structure before thermal vacuum tests with cabling for retrieving test data [44].
Figure 6. (a) Engineering model of “LignoSat” Nr. 1 from wild cherry Yamazakura (left) and Japanese magnolia Honoki (right) [43]; (b) Japanese magnolia structure before thermal vacuum tests with cabling for retrieving test data [44].
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Figure 7. “LignoSat” prototype with deployed bipole antenna [45].
Figure 7. “LignoSat” prototype with deployed bipole antenna [45].
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Figure 8. (a) Front panels for the “WISA Woodsat” flight and engineering qualification model [51]; (b) “WISA Woodsat” prototype for structural and system tests [51].
Figure 8. (a) Front panels for the “WISA Woodsat” flight and engineering qualification model [51]; (b) “WISA Woodsat” prototype for structural and system tests [51].
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Figure 9. Illustration of spacecraft Ranger 5 with lunar capsule covered with balsa wood [57].
Figure 9. Illustration of spacecraft Ranger 5 with lunar capsule covered with balsa wood [57].
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Figure 10. (a) Balsa wood capsule presented by Systems Design Secretary Pat McKibben [53]; (b) balsa wood impact limiter for Ranger 3 spacecraft during integration in January 1962 [58].
Figure 10. (a) Balsa wood capsule presented by Systems Design Secretary Pat McKibben [53]; (b) balsa wood impact limiter for Ranger 3 spacecraft during integration in January 1962 [58].
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Figure 11. (a) Third stage S-IVB of Saturn V [61]; (b) Interior insulation of Saturn V LH2 tank [60].
Figure 11. (a) Third stage S-IVB of Saturn V [61]; (b) Interior insulation of Saturn V LH2 tank [60].
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Figure 12. (a) Recovered FSW satellite with carbonized heat-shield [63]; (b) FSW satellite cabin on display [62].
Figure 12. (a) Recovered FSW satellite with carbonized heat-shield [63]; (b) FSW satellite cabin on display [62].
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Figure 13. (a) Variants of TPSea material (top and middle) and cork-based material (bottom); (b) TPSea test specimen during tests in arc-heated wind tunnel L2K at DLR [67].
Figure 13. (a) Variants of TPSea material (top and middle) and cork-based material (bottom); (b) TPSea test specimen during tests in arc-heated wind tunnel L2K at DLR [67].
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Figure 14. (a) Drawing of pyrotechnic ignition device PZU [70]; (b) pyrotechnic ignition device PZU during test install in 2011 [71].
Figure 14. (a) Drawing of pyrotechnic ignition device PZU [70]; (b) pyrotechnic ignition device PZU during test install in 2011 [71].
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Table 1. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) according to ECSS-E-HB-11A [72].
Table 1. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) according to ECSS-E-HB-11A [72].
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
TRL 1Basic principles observed and reported
TRL 2Technology concept and/or application formulated
TRL 3Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic
proof-of-concept
TRL 4Component and/or breadboard functional verification
in laboratory environment
TRL 5Component and/or breadboard critical function verification
in a relevant environment
TRL 6Model demonstrating the critical functions of the element
in a relevant environment
TRL 7Model demonstrating the element performance for the operational environment
TRL 8Actual system completed and accepted for flight (“flight qualified”)
TRL 9Actual system “flight proven” through successful mission operations
Table 2. Overview of wood and wood-based applications in space engineering.
Table 2. Overview of wood and wood-based applications in space engineering.
NameTypeComponentType of Wooden
Material
Date of Design/
First Application
Type of
Application
TRL
Bachem
Ba 349
Launch
vehicle
Stubby wings, parts of
fuselage and cockpit
Plywood1944 (testing),
01.03.1945 (launch)
Structural7
RheintochterMissileFinsPlywoodNovember 1942Structural7
Bereznyak-Isayev
BI-1
Rocket-
powered
aircraft
Almost entire aircraft (wings, fuselage, cockpit)Plywood1941(testing),
15.05.1942 (first flight)
Structural8
SMART
Rockets
Launch
vehicle
Nose coneRed beech veneer2013Structural3
LignoSatSatellite
(Cubesat)
Outer surfacesWild cherry,
Japanese magnolia (preferred)
Launch planned
for 2024 *
Structural7
WISA
Woodsat
Satellite
(Cubesat)
Outer surfacesDried birch plywood coated with thin aluminum layerLaunch planned
for 2024
Structural7
Ranger 3,
4 and 5
SpacecraftImpact limiterEnd grain of balsa wood1962Damping7
Saturn VLaunch
vehicle
S-IV and S-IVB tank
insulation
Balsa wood1960sThermal3
FSW
(Fanhui Shi Weixing)
SatelliteHeat shieldImpregnated
white oak
1974–2016Thermal9
TPSeaLaunch
vehicle,
(satellite)
Leading edgeWood-fiber based materialSince 2022Thermal/
structural
4
PZU
(Pyrotechnic ignitiondevice)
Engine
ignition
Ignition structureBirch woodSince 1950sIgnition structure9
* Preliminary tests of wooden samples (wild cherry, Japanese magnolia and birch) on ISS (Kibo Module) in March 2022 for 10 months.
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Guenther, R.; Tajmar, M.; Bach, C. Wood and Wood-Based Materials in Space Applications—A Literature Review of Use Cases, Challenges and Potential. Aerospace 2024, 11, 910. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110910

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Guenther R, Tajmar M, Bach C. Wood and Wood-Based Materials in Space Applications—A Literature Review of Use Cases, Challenges and Potential. Aerospace. 2024; 11(11):910. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110910

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Guenther, Raphaela, Martin Tajmar, and Christian Bach. 2024. "Wood and Wood-Based Materials in Space Applications—A Literature Review of Use Cases, Challenges and Potential" Aerospace 11, no. 11: 910. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110910

APA Style

Guenther, R., Tajmar, M., & Bach, C. (2024). Wood and Wood-Based Materials in Space Applications—A Literature Review of Use Cases, Challenges and Potential. Aerospace, 11(11), 910. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110910

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