10 Apr 2025
Marking a major milestone in the preparation of ESA’s Biomass satellite for its scheduled 29 April liftoff, experts have completed the critical and hazardous process of fuelling the satellite.
Once launched and commissioned for its working life in orbit around Earth, this new ESA Earth Explorer mission will demonstrate how new technology can deliver crucial information about the state of our forests and how they are changing and, importantly, further our knowledge of the role forests play in the carbon cycle.
The satellite has been at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana since 10 March being tested and ready for liftoff on a Vega-C rocket on 29 April.
A hazardous process
The latest milestone on the checklist was the precise and delicate process of loading the satellite with 132 kg of highly volatile fuel. This fuel will power the satellite so that it can carry out the complex manoeuvres that are needed to collect crucial data on our forests.
The ‘Biomass rocks and rolls’ video below highlights these orbital manoeuvres.
ESA’s Project Manager for Biomass, Michael Fehringer, said, “Preparations to ready our satellite for launch have been going very well here at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou and I thank everyone involved.
“Fuelling the satellite is extremely hazardous and was carried out by the highly specialised team from European-Astrotech-Ltd. Everyone else had to leave the cleanroom while this was happening for safety reasons.”
Stefan Kiryenko, ESA Launch Campaign Manager, noted, “I’m happy to add that everything went according to plan and Biomass is now fully loaded. The next step is to mate it to the launch adapter and then encapsulate it within the Vega-C rocket fairing.”
Detecting biomass in forests
Biomass is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar – an innovative instrument capable of penetrating forest canopies to measure the woody trunks, branches and stems where carbon is primarily stored.
This cutting-edge technology will provide an unprecedented wealth of data, enabling scientists to accurately assess forest carbon stocks and fluxes influenced by land-use changes, forest degradation and regrowth.
In turn, it will enhance our understanding of forest health, track changes over time, and address key uncertainties in the complex carbon cycle.
Forests play a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, storing carbon in their trunks, branches, leaves and roots.
However, significant uncertainties remain about the total carbon stored in the world’s forests and how these stocks are evolving. Rising temperatures, increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and human activities, such as deforestation for agriculture and urban expansion, further complicate this dynamic.
ESA’s Biomass mission aims to resolve these uncertainties by delivering critical data on carbon stocks and fluxes. By tracking carbon shifts linked to land use, degradation and regrowth, the mission will deepen our understanding of the role of forests the global carbon cycle.
Biomass is scheduled to launch on 29 April at 11:15 CEST (06:15 Kourou time).
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(A) Fuelling Biomass
(B) Preparing Biomass for fuelling