Incense for the Mesosphere

November 19 - 25, 2024
Kyoto Art Center



Incense for the Mesosphere is an immersive scent installation using hand-made senkō, a Japanese-style incense. The incense was made from leftover magnolia wood from the ‘LignoSat’ satellite—the world’s first satellite constructed with a wooden housing.

BACKGROUND: A Wooden Satellite

It’s a common misconception that when a satellite re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, it burns up and is completely vaporized, leaving no trace. However, a recent study from NOAA found that already 10% of aerosols in our stratosphere are metal particles left over from de-orbited spacecraft and satellites. It’s currently unknown what the long-term impact of these metals will be, but studies already suggest they will deplete the ozone layer. Given future plans to launch thousands of satellites in constellations such as StarLink—where the satellites will be de-orbited and replaced every few years—this metallic pollution is set to skyrocket.

In 2022, researchers at Kyoto University, in collaboration with Sumitomo Forestry, conducted tests on the International Space Station regarding the suitability of wood as a material for satellite fabrication—the idea being that wooden components of satellites would instead only create biodegradable ash, reducing the overall amount of metallic particles. Samples of Japanese cherry (cerasus jamasakura), Bigleaf magnolia (magnolia obovata), and Erman’s birch (betula ermanii) were sent to the ISS and attached to the ouside of the space station, where they were subjected to the extreme conditions of outer space: harsh temperature fluctuations, unfiltered solar radiation, and cosmic rays. It was a success: after 10 months in space, the wood samples did not exhibit deformation of any kind—no warping, cracking, or change in mass. In the vaccuum of space, wood does not burn or rot, as there is an absence of moisture and oxygen. Communication signals can pass through wood, meaning that antennae can be housed inside the satellite making for a more streamlined design. For the first wooden satellite’s prototype, Magnolia obovata was chosen as it is particualry lightweight and famous for its workabilty and stability.

Launched from the International Space Station on 9 December 2024, this satellite—called ‘LignoSat’ after the Latin word for wood, lignum—is now currently in orbit for its first test mission. For six months, sensors inside will measure the internal temperature, the expansion and contraction of the wood, geomagnetism, and how well it resists cosmic and solar radiation.




 
RESEARCH

In autumn of 2024, I was an artist-in-residence at Kyoto Art Center, supported by Office for Contemporary Art Norway, and with additional support from ANEWAL Gallery and Horikawa Danchi.

During the residency, I visited the laboratories of Takao Doi, former NASA astronaut and professor at the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (GSAIS), and Koji Murata professor at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Division of Forest and Biomaterials at Kyoto University. There, I learned about the use of traditional and renewable materials in space applications, and how, in the future, Professor Doi envisions the use of wood in human habitats on the Moon and Mars. They have already begun experiments in the laboratories at Kyoto University to grow trees in low pressure environments, mimicking the surface of Mars. 


Top:  Site visit to the lab of Takao Doi at Kyoto University. (Image credit: Iitaka Katsumasa)
Bottom Left:  Site visit to the lab of Koji Murata.
Bottom Right:  Site visit to the workshop of craftsman Hiroaki Usui in Shiga.

Through the residency, I also visted the workshop of Hiroaki Usui and his team of carpenters in Shiga, to the northeast of Kyoto, where the wooden housing of LignoSat was hand carved using traditional joinery techniques. Called ‘sashimono’, it does not rely on nails, glue, or metal fittings, but complex joinery that create blind connections. 




During this visit, I was gifted a piece of wood left over from the satellite’s construction to use in my own artwork.

Magnolia obovata is native to Japan, and is known as hōnoki or 朴 in Japanese. Traditionally, hōnoki wood has been used for samurai sword sheaths, as well as for woodblock printing. Today, hōnoki wood lumber can be found for sale in various dimensions in hardware stores, as well as art supply and craft stores. The lumber used for LignoSat came from a forestry project in Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan, but the trees can be found across the country.





Incense for the Mesosphere

In a few months' time, when this satellite finishes its mission and is intentionally deorbited, its final moments will be particularly unique: as it passes through the upper atmosphere, it will create an artificial shooting star of wood and the scent of burning magnolia wood, like an incense, high above in the mesosphere.

I wished I could be there as it burned and could smell it myself, but then realized I could replicate the scent back here on Earth. With the leftover piece of hōnoki wood from LignoSat’s fabrication, I hand-made senkō incense to create a scent installation that would allow visitors to experience the smell of the satellite burning.

Senkō incense is a distincly Japanese style of stick incense without a bamboo core, and is composed of fragrant woods and aromatics like aloeswood, sandalwood, camphor, cedar, amber, or cinnamon, often with makkō powder as a base and binder. The process involves grinding the materials to powder, then mixing with water and kneading it into a claylike consistency. The mixture is then extruded through a tube or cut into thin strips, and dried slowly on a mesh rack. 



In order to keep this satellite incense as pure as possible, I used a modern method for binding powdered incense wood: a tiny amount of xantham gum, which is a natural bacterial byproduct of grain fermentation, and adds no scent of its own.

The smell of the satellite incense is like a clean, slightly sweet campfire. During the exhibition, a stick was constantly kept lit in the center of the room, so that every visitor who entered would immediately smell the incense. 







Wooden Futurism

Think of the very first wood fire lit by humanity’s ancestors. Though it is still under debate, the timeframe of this first occurance is between 1.7 to 2 million years ago. It was a source of warmth, protection, and light to work longer hours into the night. Around 1.8 million years ago, there was a sudden surge in size of the brains of Homo erectus, which has been linked to the invention of cooking. The brains of other great apes living at that time did not, as they continued to live on a diet of raw foods. The first evidence of wood being used in permanent structures was discovered in what is today known as Zambia—from nearly half a million years ago and made from large-fruited bushwillow tree. The first wooden boats are believed to be dugout canoes from the Stone Age, leading to migration and trade. Woodblock printing is believed to have begun in China around the year 600. And the first airplane was built using spruce and ash.

Wood has shaped the course of Homo sapiens: our evolution, our societies, our cultures, and our major technical acheivements. In a way, it is almost strange that it has taken so long for wood to join us in space.

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During the exhibition in Kyoto, an elderly woman who was visiting the exhibtion recounted to me that her grandmother told her a story about how the very first tree that was sent down from the heavens was hōnoki. Sadly, I have not been able to find other sources for this folktale, and while it may just be familial lore, I like the idea of sending magnolia back to the heavens. 






This project was made possible through the support of Office for Contemporary Art Norway