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...