The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to launch a biomass mission in 2025, providing more accurate measurements of forest biomass to enhance understanding of the carbon cycle. For more information, we spoke with Michael Fehringer from Biomass Project Manager.
As a major carbon sinking, forests play an important role in the carbon cycle and climate system. However, due to factors such as forest degradation and deforestation, much of the otherwise stored carbon is released into the atmosphere, causing a harmful effect on the environment.
It is essential to quantify the global carbon cycle to understand the rapid changes that forests are experiencing and therefore address the impact this has on our climate. However, current measurements of forest biomass are poor in many parts of the world. The European Space Agency’s biomass mission uses new information on forest heights and above-ground forest biomass to provide new information on forest heights and above-ground forest biomass, leading to major in calculating carbon stock and land flux. Collect important data that helps reduce uncertainty.
The biomass mission consists of a single low earth orbit (LEO) satellite platform carrying synthetic aperture radar (SAR) equipment. Mapping forest biomass is a major technical challenge as forests are complex structures and dense canopies with different tree species, making measurements difficult from space. Biomass “SAR instruments can “see” through cloud covers, penetrating the canopy layer, allowing you to estimate the actual tree biomass.
Biomass satellites are designed and built as major contractors by a consortium of more than 50 companies in Airbus UK. The mission is scheduled to begin in April 2025 at Vega-C Rocket from the European Space Port in Kourou, Guiana, France.
Editor Georgie Purcell spoke to Michael Fehringer, ESA’s biomass project manager, to find out how the mission clears questions surrounding forest biomass and carbon cycle.
What is a biomass mission and what is it designed to do?
The Biomass Mission is part of a Earth Science mission led by the European Space Agency’s Earth Observation Agency. The Geoscience Group will test novel technologies and build satellites that determine whether they are good candidates for operational applications.
Biomass missions are designed to provide insight into carbon cycles and climate modeling. It is relatively known how much fossil fuel is consumed each year and how much CO2 is released into the atmosphere. But what’s less well known is where this is all over. Three possibilities are that they remain in the atmosphere, stored in the ocean, or absorbed by plants primarily in tropical forests. These three CO2 sinks are obvious, but it is difficult to determine how much CO2 will go to each sink. In particular, there is great uncertainty regarding the amount of carbon stored in forests.
One of the main objectives of biomass missions is to measure the amount of carbon in forests. This is achieved by measuring wood per hectare. Roughly, one kilo of wood is equivalent to 0.5 kilo of carbon. Another important objective is to measure the evolution of forests around the world. The first round of the mission takes a global map of the Earth and measures how much carbon there is. After about 7 months, another measurement will be taken to determine the current change. Find out where growth or losses are found due to deforestation or other causes.
Could you please explain in detail the preparation stages for the mission? How much was it working on? Have you encountered any challenges, or if so, how have you overcome them?
This type of mission is located within a group called “Explorer Missions” and uses technology specifically developed for these missions. This technology has never been flew in before, so unfortunately it takes time to develop these.
The history of biomass dates back to 2005, when the scientific community proposed a mission as one of six candidates to be studied for implementation. Biomass won that competition in 2012. The detailed industrial design work was then carried out at two European consortiums, and the contract to build the satellite was ultimately awarded to Airbus in early 2016.
We face many technical issues that are primarily related to musical instruments. This is a radar equipment that requires strong, extremely complex radar pulses and therefore a power amplifier. Power amplifiers and equipment control units were difficult to develop, leading to delays.
The entire process was hampered by Covid-19. When Covid started, they had begun testing engineering models that were developed and tested before building the flight model. People should have been in the lab, but the community lockdown meant low attendance. In total, Covid spent about a year delay on us.
Recently, we have also been struggling with the European launcher problem. But now things are running smoothly again, ready to be released on Vega-C.
What will happen after release?
Right after its release there will be a very intense few days to launch the satellite. This is followed by a six-month “commissioning” phase where the system checks, operates and data is obtained.
The data is then examined, calibrated equipment, and the results are verified against terrestrial truths. It is located mainly in tropical regions, where people on the ground measure thickness and height measurements from tree to tree to provide estimates of the wood at the site. Fly over these sites and perform algorithm executions to achieve the results. This is compared to ground truth measurements. Ultimately, adapt the algorithm as needed.
One of the very time-consuming parts of this six-month stage is related to the radar beam. The radar beam diameter is about 60km, ideally it should be very homogeneous. To measure this, fly the ground calibration unit 20 times. This gives a good idea of what the beam looks like. Radar beams are only displayed every three days, so it takes 60 days to obtain a highly detailed characterization.
Six months later, my team and I will showcase their achievements as independent reviewers along with the industry, showing how satellites, equipment and algorithms work. This is followed by handing over to the people who operate the satellite.
This article will also be featured in the 21st edition of Quarterly Publication.
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