{"id":676971,"date":"2025-06-24T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T02:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/space-umbrella-returns-first-striking-images-of-earths-forests\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T05:30:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T02:30:23","slug":"space-umbrella-returns-first-striking-images-of-earths-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/space-umbrella-returns-first-striking-images-of-earths-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Space umbrella\u2019 returns first striking images of Earth\u2019s forests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A giant umbrella-like satellite fitted with European tech has revealed its first images of Earth\u2019s surface.<\/span><\/p>\n

The probe, called \u201cBiomass,\u201d was built by a host of aerospace giants and startups for the European Space Agency (ESA). It <\/span>launched in April<\/span> on a Vega-C rocket from <\/span>Europe\u2019s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. European Astrotech, a UK-based startup, was responsible for fuelling the satellite ahead of takeoff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biomass\u2019 mission is to capture the most detailed measurements of forest carbon ever recorded from space. To get the job done, it\u2019s been equipped with the first-ever P-band radar to enter orbit. <\/span>It aims to deepen our understanding of changes in the Earth\u2019s forests \u2014 and the impact on the global carbon cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Built by Airbus, this type of radar instrument uses long wavelengths that can slice through thick canopies to reach the woody structures underneath, where most of a forest\u2019s carbon is stored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond forests, the probe can also map subsurface geology in deserts, the structure of ice sheets, and forest floor topography.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"space-umbrella-biomass-ESA\"
Image of the Rio Beni meandering through Bolivia\u2019s rainforests. It was created using the radar instrument\u2019s different polarisation channels. Each colour reveals distinct characteristics of the landscape. For instance, green hues mainly represent rainforest, red hues forested floodplains and wetlands, and blue\u2013purple is indicative of grasslands, while black areas are rivers and lakes. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption>\"space-umbrella-biomass-ESA\"<\/figure>\n

Biomass circles Earth in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of around 666 kilometres. It transmits raw radar data from its P-band instrument to ESA\u2019s Kiruna ground station in Sweden, where the information is received and sent to processing facilities. There, the data is calibrated and transformed into usable scientific products such as biomass density maps and forest height models.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once processed, these datasets are made accessible through a Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP), designed by Belgian tech firm Spacebel. The MAAP enables scientists worldwide to search, access, and analyse Biomass data directly in the cloud without needing to download<\/a> massive files or manage complex infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ESA-biomass-satellite\"
Tropical forest on islands in the Halmahera archipelago, Indonesia. Beyond providing insights into rainforests, the Biomass P-band radar also reveals topographic features, as its long wavelength can penetrate down to the forest floor. Credit: ESA<\/figcaption>\"ESA-biomass-satellite\"<\/figure>\n

The giant umbrella\u2019s job is to direct radar pulses from the P-band radar instrument mounted on the satellite\u2019s body down to the forests below. When the radar signals hit Earth\u2019s surface, they bounce back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The umbrella-shaped antenna, built by US space firm L3Harris, catches the returning signals and redirects them to the satellite. From there, the onboard systems process the data to create detailed 3D maps of global biomass and other features in the landscape.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ESA-biomass-satellite-brazil\"
A view over the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil. Pink and red hues reveal the presence of wetlands. The dominance of red tones along the river indicates forested floodplains, while the northern area, depicted in rich green, reveals more rugged topography and dense, continuous forest cover. Credit: ESA.<\/figcaption>\"ESA-biomass-satellite-brazil\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Michael Fehringer, ESA\u2019s project manager for Biomass, said the satellite was still in its commissioning phase \u2014 the period of testing and calibration after launch. He expects to gather even better data over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBiomass is equipped with novel space technology<\/a>, so we\u2019ve been closely monitoring its performance in orbit, and we\u2019re very pleased to report that everything is functioning smoothly and its first images are nothing short of spectacular \u2014 and they\u2019re only a mere glimpse of what is still to come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A giant umbrella-like satellite fitted with European tech has revealed its first images of Earth\u2019s surface. The probe, called \u201cBiomass,\u201d was built by a host of aerospace giants and startups for the European Space Agency (ESA). It launched in April on a Vega-C rocket from Europe\u2019s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. European Astrotech, a UK-based…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":676972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2025%2F04%2Fbiomass-satellite-space-umbrella-.jpg&signature=aa46d46754b1d1eda192a912fa12bd3e","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}