A company in Finland has developed a satellite made of wood that it plans to launch into orbit this year. The small, experimental satellite aims to test the effectiveness of wooden materials used in the extreme conditions of space. The project is a cooperative effort between several Finnish businesses, including an engineering company, a maker of research satellites and a major wood producer. The European Space Agency is supporting the mission by assisting with pre-flight testing and providing sensors to be placed inside the satellite. The wooden satellite is considered a CubeSat. A CubeSat is a small satellite mainly used for research purposes by universities and non-profit organizations. The one developed in Finland, called WISA Woodsat, is a cube measuring 10 centimeters on all sides. The main structure of the satellite is completely made of wood. It was built by Arctic Astronautics, a company that also produces and sells CubeSats for educational purposes. Jari Makinen is the co-founder of Arctic Astronautics and is leading the Woodsat mission. He told Reuters the goal of the project is to expose the satellite’s plywood material to the extremes of heat, cold, pressure and radiation. Since it will be the first wooden satellite launched into orbit, Makinen said it will be the first test of how such materials might be used to develop future space structures. For example, wood could be used to build parts of spacecraft or space stations. “We are starting to study the behavior of wood in space,” he said.