The Explorer is based on the Astrobus Platform Line used, notably, on the following missions: SPOT6/7, KazEOSat-1, SEOSAT/Ingenio, PeruSAT-1 and Sentinel-5 Precursor.įollowing the contract signature, Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation at ESA, said: “We are all aware of the climate crisis and how important forests are for our planet. Observations from this new mission will also lead to better insight into the rates of habitat loss and, as a result, the effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.Īirbus Defence and Space (UK) is developing and building the Biomass spacecraft using a bespoke structure embedding the AS250 avionics. Other innovative applications that can be explored for the first time from space with the Biomass radar are the mapping of topography under dense vegetation and subsurface geology in deserts.īiomass will spend at least five years making detailed observations and witnessing at least eight growth cycles in the world’s forests. The global mass of trees is not obtainable by ground measurement techniques. The satellite will carry the first P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), able to deliver accurate maps of tropical, temperate and boreal forest biomass in terms of tons/hectare with a resolution of 50 to 100 meters. and will be placed in a dawn-dusk, Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 666 km.įorest type and forest cover worldwide can be detected by today’s satellites, but Biomass will take the information to the next level. The satellite will have a mass at liftoff of approximately 1,200 kg.
The industrial prime contractor for Vega is Avio, based in Colleferro, Italy. Vega is part of the Arianespace launcher family, along with the Ariane 5 heavy launcher and the medium-lift Soyuz all three are operated from the Guiana Space Center. The Biomass mission will utilize a Vega launch vehicle, with the launch period starting in October 2022 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America). The Earth Explorer Biomass – the seventh mission in ESA’s Earth Explorer program – will provide global maps of the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time, mainly through absorbing carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, deforestation and change in land use.īiomass also will provide essential support to United Nations treaties on the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
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