On Tuesday 29 April, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Biomass mission was launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Kourou (French Guiana) into orbit 666 km from Earth.
Biomass, ESA’s Earth Explorer mission scheduled to last at least five years, will provide data to improve understanding of forests and their importance in the carbon cycle and climate.
With forests absorbing some 8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere every year, the Biomass data will help produce more accurate estimates of the amount of carbon contained in forest organic matter, or biomass, and reduce uncertainties in carbon stock and flux estimates, particularly those related to land-use change, forest loss and regrowth, according to the European Space Agency.
The Biomass P-band radar - the first of its kind to be used in space - will penetrate clouds and forest strata, scattering signals off forest vegetation. The radar will make it possible to scan the tropical forest and understand how each part of the trees absorbs carbon. Data from the Biomass mission will improve understanding of the state of the Earth’s forests and how they are changing. They will also make it possible to map the underground geology of deserts, the structures of ice caps and the topography of forest soils.
The satellite was developed by more than 50 companies under the leadership of Airbus UK. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)