The article alludes to this, but one of the key challenges to using wood in space will likely be that wood changes shape as it's moisture content fluctuates. Here on earth, that's typically due to seasonal variations in humidity, and it's why your doors stuck in the summertime when it's more humid.
In space, the equilibrium moisture content of wood is probably zero, or immeasurably close to it, whereas on earth, I don't think you can dry wood that far with typical drying equipment. Which is no doubt why they're using a thermal vacuum kiln, the vacuum bit being the key.
The challenge then becomes maintaining that level of dryness between drying and space. Typical wood finishes slow, but don't stop moisture exchange. And if you coat the whole damn thing in something exotic to maintain a super dry material, you likely torpedo the whole "green" aspect.
Plywood (and other manufactured wood products) moves much less than solid wood. I'm still curious if they're having to design around accommodating any movement in their mechanical design given the extremely uncommon atmospheric(?) conditions this will be subjected to upon launch. Moisture exchange will likely be the last of their concerns on reentry.
I, for one would be delighted lto serve as a wood movement consultant on future wooden spacecraft. Though, really, all the principles of sound solid wood construction on earth have been known for millennia and there's no shortage of sources on doing it right.
> The challenge then becomes maintaining that level of dryness between drying and space.
There's also stabilizing, in which you "fill in" all of the space the water left with a very thin resin. I'm sure you could find some all-natural stuff that would do the trick
I had vinyl flooring installed that had a top layer of Aluminum Oxide. Really durable, most people couldn’t tell that it wasn’t wood floor. And about 1/4 the price of laminated flooring.
In space, the equilibrium moisture content of wood is probably zero, or immeasurably close to it, whereas on earth, I don't think you can dry wood that far with typical drying equipment. Which is no doubt why they're using a thermal vacuum kiln, the vacuum bit being the key.
The challenge then becomes maintaining that level of dryness between drying and space. Typical wood finishes slow, but don't stop moisture exchange. And if you coat the whole damn thing in something exotic to maintain a super dry material, you likely torpedo the whole "green" aspect.
Plywood (and other manufactured wood products) moves much less than solid wood. I'm still curious if they're having to design around accommodating any movement in their mechanical design given the extremely uncommon atmospheric(?) conditions this will be subjected to upon launch. Moisture exchange will likely be the last of their concerns on reentry.
I, for one would be delighted lto serve as a wood movement consultant on future wooden spacecraft. Though, really, all the principles of sound solid wood construction on earth have been known for millennia and there's no shortage of sources on doing it right.