ESA’s Biomass satellite. Credit ESA
ESA’s Biomass satellite is now operational, and its data is open to everyone.
ESA’s Biomass flies in a Sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit at an altitude of about 667 km above Earth. Its radar looks to the side, scanning a strip of land 50–60 km wide with each pass.
Every three days, after 44 orbits, the satellite re-observes the same area with a slight shift. This creates a set of images needed to map forests in detail. Each set includes 7 images of 3D forest structure and 3 images to measure changes over time.
ESA’s Biomass satellite. Credit ESA
Over the next 9–12 days, the satellite slightly raises its orbit, drifts to a new position, then returns to its normal height. It then repeats the same scanning process. After seven major cycles, Biomass achieves full global coverage.
The mission starts with a global 3D forest mapping phase, which takes about 18 months and reveals forest structure. After that, the satellite continues with nine-month global update cycles to track how forests change over time for the rest of the mission.
ESA’s Biomass satellite. Credit ESA
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