Origami Airplane Launched From Space
Encyclopedia
Japanese scientists and origami
masters considered in 2008 launching a flotilla
of paper plane
s from space. The launch was tentatively slated for 2009 from the International Space Station
250 miles above Earth. However, the planes' developers, Taduo Toda (see paper plane world records) and fellow enthusiast Shinji Suzuki, an aeronautical engineer and professor at Tokyo University, postponed the attempt after acknowledging it would be all but impossible to track the planes during their week-long journey to Earth
, assuming any of them survived the searing descent. The developers continue, in 2009, with hopes that China or Russia will back further efforts on the project.
Some 30 to 100 planes had been considered to make the descent, each gliding downward over what was expected to be the course of a week to several months. If one of the planes survived to Earth, it would have made the longest flight ever by a paper plane, traversing the 250 mi./400 km. vertical descent. In a test in Japan in February 2008, a prototype about 2.8 inches long and 2 inches wide survived Mach 7 speeds and temperatures reported to be 200°C in a hypersonic wind tunnel
for 10 seconds. Materials designed for use in conventional reentry vehicles, including ceramic composites, withstand temperatures on the order of 2200°C. The 30 cm planes were to have been made from heat-resistant paper treated with silicon.
As the Japanese/JAXA project was outlined, scientists would have had no way to track the airplanes or to predict where they might land; and as 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water, the craft would have anticipated a wet reunion with the planet. Each plane, however, would have borne a request in several languages asking its finder to contact the Japanese team. Should one of the airplanes thus have made its way home, its journey would have helped to demonstrate the feasibility of slow-speed, low-friction atmospheric reentry
. Critics have suggested that even a successful demonstration would lack probative impact beyond the realm of diminutive sheets of folded paper—they can only fall. Supporters countered that the broadening of knowledge was justification enough.
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...
masters considered in 2008 launching a flotilla
Flotilla
A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...
of paper plane
Paper plane
A paper plane, paper aeroplane , paper airplane , paper glider, paper dart or dart is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of paper or paperboard; the practice of constructing paper planes is sometimes referred to as aerogami , after origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.-History:The...
s from space. The launch was tentatively slated for 2009 from the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
250 miles above Earth. However, the planes' developers, Taduo Toda (see paper plane world records) and fellow enthusiast Shinji Suzuki, an aeronautical engineer and professor at Tokyo University, postponed the attempt after acknowledging it would be all but impossible to track the planes during their week-long journey to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, assuming any of them survived the searing descent. The developers continue, in 2009, with hopes that China or Russia will back further efforts on the project.
Some 30 to 100 planes had been considered to make the descent, each gliding downward over what was expected to be the course of a week to several months. If one of the planes survived to Earth, it would have made the longest flight ever by a paper plane, traversing the 250 mi./400 km. vertical descent. In a test in Japan in February 2008, a prototype about 2.8 inches long and 2 inches wide survived Mach 7 speeds and temperatures reported to be 200°C in a hypersonic wind tunnel
Hypersonic wind tunnel
A hypersonic wind tunnel is designed to generate a hypersonic flow field in the working section. The speed of these tunnels vary from Mach 5 to 15. As with supersonic wind tunnels, these types of tunnels must run intermittently with very high pressure ratios when initializing.Since the temperature...
for 10 seconds. Materials designed for use in conventional reentry vehicles, including ceramic composites, withstand temperatures on the order of 2200°C. The 30 cm planes were to have been made from heat-resistant paper treated with silicon.
As the Japanese/JAXA project was outlined, scientists would have had no way to track the airplanes or to predict where they might land; and as 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water, the craft would have anticipated a wet reunion with the planet. Each plane, however, would have borne a request in several languages asking its finder to contact the Japanese team. Should one of the airplanes thus have made its way home, its journey would have helped to demonstrate the feasibility of slow-speed, low-friction atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
. Critics have suggested that even a successful demonstration would lack probative impact beyond the realm of diminutive sheets of folded paper—they can only fall. Supporters countered that the broadening of knowledge was justification enough.
External links
- The Ultimate Paper Airplane
- Origami Plane To Be Launched From Space
- Scientists Aim For Origami Space Flight
- Can Japan's Paper Plane Fly In Space?
- Japan To Launch Origami Planes Into Outer Space
- Paper Aeroplane To Be Dropped 240 miles From International Space Station To Earth
- Reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education
- BBC News - Amateur space enthusiasts launch paper plane into space (November 2010)