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ESA’s Biomass; on the launch pad, the mission and Europe’s Spaceport

ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE/Optique vidéo du CSG–T. Leduc

ESA’s Biomass satellite, encapsulated within a Vega-C rocket fairing, has been rolled out to the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana ahead of liftoff, planned for 29 April at 11:15 CEST.

Carrying a novel P-band synthetic aperture radar, the Biomass mission is designed to deliver crucial information about the state of our forests and how they are changing, and to further our knowledge of the role forests play in the carbon cycle.

Once in orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle.

Europe’s Spaceport is situated in the northeast of South America in French Guiana, an overseas department of France.

In 1964 the French Government chose Kourou, from 14 other sites, as a base from which to launch its satellites. When the European Space Agency came into being in 1975, the French Government offered to share its Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) with ESA. For its part, ESA approved funding to upgrade the launch facilities at the CSG to prepare the Spaceport for the Ariane launchers under development.

Since then, ESA has continued to fund two thirds of the spaceport’s annual budget to finance the operations and the investments needed to maintain the top level services provided by the Spaceport. ESA also finances new facilities, such as launch complexes and industrial production facilities, for new launchers such as Vega-C and Ariane 6.