Paper airplane to launch from ISS

Tokyo, Japan - January 22, 2008 — Since 1998, Ken Blackburn has held the Guinness record for time aloft for paper airplanes at 27.6 seconds. But researchers from the University of Tokyo, if successful, will literally blow that record out of this world. Teaming up with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association, University of Tokyo researchers are developing a paper aircraft capable of surviving the flight from the International Space Station to the Earth’s surface, according to Pink Tentacle. Testing on the strength and heat resistance of the Origami prototype shaped like the Space Shuttle was a “spectacular success” on Jan. 17, the Japan Origami Airplane Association reported. The paper airplane, tested in a wind tunnel at the University’s Okashiwa campus, withstood wind speeds of Mach 7, or about 5,300 mph, and temperatures of 200 degrees C, or 392 degrees F. The real space shuttle can reach speeds of up to Mach 20, or more than 15,200 mph, when it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, and friction with the air heats the outer surface to extreme temperatures. However, the origami aircraft is not expected to burn up on re-entry since it is much lighter. New Scientist reported that the airplane would be chemically processed to incorporate silicon in the paper structure, increasing its heat resistance. This isn’t the first time Shinji Suzuki, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Tokyo, has worked with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association. About a decade ago they collaborated on a 3-meter, or 9.8-feet, long paper plane shaped like a space shuttle and launched from the top of a mountain. The newer plane is of a similar design, but is smaller and has a rounded nose to minimize to aerodynamic heating, New Scientist reported. No launch date has been set for the paper plane, but Suzuki is thinking ahead. “We hope the space station crew will write a message of peace on the plane before they launch it,” he said. “We don’t know where in the world the plane will land, but it would be nice to send a message to whoever finds it.”

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