13.02.2025
After years of meticulous development, ESA’s next Earth Explorer satellite, Biomass, is ready to be packed up for transport to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, where it will launch aboard a Vega-C rocket this spring.
Before final preparations and shipment, media representatives had the exclusive opportunity today to see the satellite up close in the cleanroom at Airbus’ facilities in Toulouse, France.
Forests, often referred to as ‘Earth’s green lungs’, absorb around 8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Deforestation and forest degradation, particularly in tropical regions, are causing stored carbon in forests to be released back into the atmosphere.
Quantifying the global carbon cycle is essential to understanding how forests are changing and the subsequent implications for our climate.
Rising to the challenge, the new Biomass mission has been designed to help do just this.
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While forest type and extent can be observed by other satellites, Biomass is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar – an instrument that can penetrate right through the forest canopy to measure ‘biomass’, meaning the woody trunks, branches and stems, which is where trees store most of their carbon.
This measurement of forest biomass can be used as a proxy for stored carbon, the quantification of which is the main objective of the Biomass mission.
Data from the Biomass mission will, therefore, reduce major uncertainties in calculations of carbon stocks and fluxes on land, including carbon fluxes associated with land-use change, forest degradation and forest regrowth.
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With liftoff slated for April, the satellite has recently been going through the last round of tests and meticulous checks in Toulouse, and is now ready to be carefully packed and shipped to French Guiana.
ESA’s Biomass Project Manager, Michael Fehringer said, “Our primary contractor for the mission is Airbus in the UK, but the satellite's development and testing have involved 20 countries and more than 50 companies.
“Additionally, L3Harris in the US engineered the satellite’s impressive 12-meter-wide wire mesh reflector, which is folded up today ready for shipment and launch. This project showcases the power of international collaboration and technological excellence.”
ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, noted, “Indeed, it’s marvellous to see the satellite standing proud today and I wish to thank our industrial partners for all they have done.
“And, we look forward to seeing their technological excellence deliver scientific excellence once this special satellite is in orbit and delivering much-needed data to advance Earth science and our understanding of the carbon cycle.”
