29 April 2025 year Fr. 09:15 (UTC) from the Guyana Space Center, French Guiana, the "Biomass" launch vehicle was launched using the "Vega-C" launch vehicle.
The Biomass spacecraft was selected by ESA's Earth Observation Program Board in May 2013 year as the seventh Earth Explorer mission. Innovative satellite will use P-band synthetic aperture radar to collect forest height data, which will enable scientists to determine the amount of biomass and carbon, that is stored in them. This information, which is understudied in the tropics, important for understanding the role of forests in the Earth's carbon cycle and climate change.
in addition, measurement, which will be carried out by the "Biomass" satellite, will make it possible to map the topography of the Earth under dense vegetation, which gives information about the subsurface geology and makes it possible to estimate the speed of movement of glaciers and ice sheets, which is extremely important for our understanding of ice sheet mass loss under conditions of Earth warming.
The mass of the satellite is 1250 Kg. It will be launched into a sun-synchronous high altitude orbit 666 km. The minimum planned service life of the satellite is 5,5 years. The mission will be managed from ESA's European Space Operations Center (ESOC) Darmstadt.
According to the CCS