And lift off for Biomass! 🚀 Our Biomass satellite has successfully launched, marking a major leap forward in understanding Earth’s forests and their vital role in the carbon cycle. Lifted off on 29 April 2025 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana aboard Vega-C, Biomass is now in orbit and sending back its first signals. Over the next few days, our mission controllers will carefully deploy Biomass’ enormous 12-metre-wide reflector, the key to its unique abilities. Why Biomass matters: - Forests are often called Earth’s “green lungs” – absorbing around 8 billion tonnes of CO₂ each year. But deforestation and land-use changes are putting that critical service at risk. - Equipped with the first-ever P-band radar in space, Biomass will ‘see’ through forest canopies to measure the woody biomass – trunks, branches and stems – where carbon is stored. - This data will fill crucial gaps in our knowledge of how much carbon forests hold, how they are changing, and how this impacts ou...