The world’s biggest space-based radar will measure Earth’s forests from orbit

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on MIT Technology Review or enjoy below:

🛰️ Driving the news: The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch Biomass, the largest space-based radar system to date, designed to map the carbon stored in Earth’s forests
• Scheduled to lift off in late April from French Guiana, the satellite will use a P-band radar—previously restricted due to military applications—to penetrate forest canopies and assess tree mass, offering unprecedented data on global carbon sinks

🌲 The context: Forests, particularly tropical ones, play a crucial role in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide
Yet, much of their biomass remains poorly measured due to accessibility limitations and the inadequacy of existing satellite sensors
• Biomass’ P-band radar can detect deeper forest structures such as trunks and large branches
• However, due to interference concerns with missile-tracking systems, the satellite will be restricted from scanning North America and Europe

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Mapping forest biomass is key to understanding the global carbon cycle
• Biomass will provide 3D maps showing how much carbon is stored in tropical forest ecosystems
• These maps will help assess forest health, deforestation impacts, and carbon storage shifts over time

⏭️ What’s next: The satellite will start its tomography phase after a five-month calibration period
• Global data collection will take 18 months, followed by updates every nine months for five years
• North America and Europe are excluded from scans to avoid radar interference with defense systems

💬 One quote: “The main interest is the tropics... the densest forest and the one we know least about” — Klaus Scipal, ESA Biomass mission lead

📈 One stat: The radar’s 12-meter antenna will generate hectare-scale 3D biomass maps of forests worldwide

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