Satellite are launched in the mission to “weigh” the world

Researchers have successfully launched a new satellite designed to study the forests of the planet and “provide an unprecedented vision” on how these regions affect the carbon cycle of the Earth, the European Space Agency announced on Tuesday.

The satellite, called Biomass, launched with a rocket of the European Space Puerto in Kouroou, New Guinea, and separated from the rocket less than an hour after the launch, said ESA in a press release. Approximately 75 minutes after the launch, the ESA satellite controllers received the first biomass signal, indicating that the satellite works as expected in orbit.

In the next few days, the controllers will carry out the “launch and early orbit” phase of the satellite, making sure that all the systems work well, said ESA, and the satellite will make a “series of intricate maneuvers” to implement a mesh reflector of almost 40 feet wide. That reflector will receive data from the forests of the world, said ESA.

Forests on Earth absorb and collectively store around 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, said ESA. That regulates the temperature of the planet. Deforestation and degradation, especially in tropical regions, means that stored carbon is being released again in the atmosphere, said ESA, which can contribute to climate change. There is a lack of precise data on the amount of carbon that the planet is estimated of 1.5 billion trees and how much human activity can affect that storage, said ESA.

To “weigh” the planet’s trees and determine its carbon dioxide capacity, biomass will use a synthetic band opening radar P. It is the first piece of technology of this type in space. The radar can penetrate forest awning and measure woody biomass, including trunks, branches and stems, said ESA. The majority of forest carbon is stored in these parts of the trees. These measurements will act as a proxy for carbon storage, said ESA.

“With biomass, we are prepared to obtain new vital data on how much carbon is stored in the forests of the world, helping to fill key gaps in our knowledge of the carbon cycle and, ultimately, the climate system of the earth,” said Simonetta Cheli, director of Earth’s Earth Observation Programs.

Once the radar takes the measurements, the data will be received by the large mesh reflector. Then it will be sent to the ESA Mission Control Center.

The satellite is currently on the Amazon, one of several tropical jungles that will study, according to News themezone BBC News.

The satellite tools can be used in other environments, said ESA, including “subsurface geology in deserts, ice layer structures and forest floor topography.”

In:
• Rain forest
• European Space Agency
• Climate change
• Satellite