The world’s biggest space-based radar will measure Earth’s forests from orbit
1 min read
Summary
Forests are the second-largest carbon sink after the oceans and the European Space Agency, in conjunction with Airbus, has developed a satellite called Biomass that will be able to see below the treetops worldwide and identify how much carbon is stored.
Airbus has had to fold the 12-metre antenna used in the P-band radar for the Biomass satellite into the rocket that will lift it into space, which will then unfurl like an umbrella once in orbit.
The satellite cannot interfere with SOTR coverage in North America and Europe, hence the radar will not be operable in those regions.
Biomass is expected to last five years and initially will spend five months calibrating its radar and other systems, before moving on to map forests around the world with the exception of North America and Europe.
Once Biomass has completed its initial mapping mission, it will switch to a different method that sees it capture a full global map every nine months to monitor how forest conditions change over time.