European Space Agency (ЕКА) launched its flagship Biomass satellite, whose mission is to provide critical data on Earth's forests to better understand their role in the global carbon cycle and climate change.
Satellite, built by Airbus Defense and Space, started on board VEGA-C rockets from European space in the chicken, French Guiana, 29 April Fr. 6:15 morning local time. Space apparatus successfully separated from the rocket carrier less than an hour after the start. A little more than an hour later, the operational team of the European Space Agency (ЕКА) received the first satellite signal in Germany, transmitted via a ground station in Antarctica, which confirmed its proper functioning in orbit.
"Biomass will provide scientists and climatologists with unprecedented data on the state of the world's forests, which will further deepen the understanding of the climate cycle", - said Alain Faure, head of the space systems department of Airbus Defense and Space. "The spacecraft is now safely in orbit and ready to transmit its valuable data". The satellite will operate during a five-year mission, using the first P-band synthetic aperture spaceborne radar to penetrate through leaves and quantify tree biomass - trunks, гілок та стебел, where the most forest carbon is stored. The goal of the mission is to create high-precision maps of the tropics, temperate and boreal forests, which will confirm estimates of carbon stocks and flows, and will help reduce uncertainty about land-use change and forest degradation.
“Biomass now joins our esteemed Earth Explorers family of missions, which consistently bring groundbreaking discoveries and advanced scientific knowledge about our planet", said Simonetta Cheli, director of Earth observation programs of the European Space Agency. "We are ready to receive vital new data on the, how much carbon is stored in the world's forests".
Forests annually absorb approx 8 billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide, but deforestation and forest degradation, especially in the tropics, result in the release of a significant portion of this stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Biomass will help scientists and policymakers assess these changes with unprecedented precision. In addition to forest monitoring, Biomass will support a number of secondary goals, including the detection of palanal horizons in arid regions, Helping to study the dynamics of the glacial shield, analysis of underground geology and clarification of forest topography models. Its radar system will improve digital terrain models in densely forested areas and provide a new view of the Earth's surface.
Over 50 companies from 20 countries have contributed to the development and testing of the Biomass satellite. Teams of European Space Agency (ЕКА) Now control the stage of commissioning the satellite, including deploying its large radar reflector and calibrating it with a ground-based transponder, located in New Norcia, Australia.
Satellite weight 1250 kg will perform its work on solar-synchronous, almost circular orbit at altitude 660 kilometers.
The mission will be carried out in two stages — tomographic and interferometric. According to ESA, the tomographic stage combines several images, to reveal information about the internal structure of the forest. It will last close 18 months and will lead to the creation of a single map of the world. The tomographic phase will provide 3D-data with vertical distinct from 15 to 20 meters and horizontal 200 meters.
Then the interferometric phase will begin, which will last about four years. As part of this phase, initial images of each section of the forest canopy will be taken (aggregates of tree crowns) and its density, and then the same areas will be tested four times, to calculate and track changes in forest height and aboveground biomass.