Our Biomass satellite has successfully launched, marking a major leap forward in understanding Earth’s forests and their vital role in the carbon cycle.
It lifted off on 29 April 2025 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana aboard Vega-C, and is already sending back its first signals. Over the next few days, our mission controllers will carefully deploy Biomass’ enormous 12-metre-wide reflector – the key to its unique abilities.
📹 European Space Agency (ESA) 📸 ESA/CNES/Arianespace
ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass mission is designed to provide new insights into the health and evolution of the world’s forests, helping us understand how they are changing over time and, importantly, their critical role in the global carbon cycle. Equipped with the first-ever fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar, this satellite can penetrate dense forest canopies. The long 70 cm wavelength of the radar enables it to measure ‘biomass’—the woody trunks, branches and stems—where trees store the majority of their carbon.
Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
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