Exciting news for space lovers and climate champions alike! The newest ‘sentinel of the skies’ from Life’s blockbuster planetarium show Earth Defenders! is ready to launch on Tuesday 29th April from French Guiana.
Set to revolutionise our understanding of the world’s forests and how they change over time, BIOMASS is a UK success story, with both production and science led by the UK – with local links too! Airbus Defence and Space UK designed and produced the satellite, with a team in Newcastle providing mission support.
BIOMASS will join a series of other European Space Agency, ESA, satellites in helping us to protect our planet and is the first satellite designed for monitoring our global forests.
And our forests are so important to our planet. They are home to over 80% of land-based plant and animal species and lock atmospheric carbon into trees and soil. As climate change intensifies, monitoring dense forests has become critical, but it’s too difficult to accurately measure forests in some of the most remote places on Earth from the ground.
It’s much easier to measure from space! Peering through the canopy from 666km up, BIOMASS will build a 3D map of the forests, allowing us to understand how much wood (and therefore carbon) these forests contain. Understanding how forests behave and change might help us protect them from climate impacts.
To see the wood, BIOMASS must first see through the leaves. It will use long wavelength radio waves operating at ‘P band’ frequency to do this. This will be the first time P-band radar has been deployed in space. Part of the support team at Airbus in Newcastle, Dr Frazer Christie, has reviewed how the antenna will work.
“The BIOMASS antenna looks like a giant umbrella. The 12m dish will be one of the largest ever launched into space and will be used to direct the radar signals down to Earth and then focus the signals scattered back to the satellite into the sensor.”
Dr Luke Smallman grew up in the North East and now works at the UK’s National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) in Edinburgh. He is a part of the team that will work to understand what the data sent back from BIOMASS means.
“BIOMASS’ data will be completely open access, so scientists across the world will be able to use it in their research. It’s so important. People from across the world will work together and speed up our learning to help us in the fight against climate change.”
Antarctic scientist Dr Sammie Buzzard at Northumbria University is also excited to see if BIOMASS can bring new information on the polar regions. Sammie isn’t interested in trees, but she’s hoping the information from BIOMASS will also be able to provide important new information on the thickness of ice shelves and their melting rates.
To celebrate the launch of this remarkable satellite, Life will be screening Earth Defenders! From 28 April into July. The 80’s retro-style animation features a team of ‘superhero satellites’, including BIOMASS, defending Earth from above. Produced in house at Life, this is a great addition to the planetarium, highlighting the work being done in the region and beyond in the space sector in the fight against climate change.
“Earth Defenders! takes viewers on an extraordinary journey into space, showcasing how satellites play a crucial role in everyday life. It takes what can be a dry subject and makes it accessible, engaging and educational. Visitors will get a real sense of the importance of satellite technology in our daily lives.”
Want to join the excitement?
- Look out for the BIOMASS launch on Tuesday 29th April 2025.
- More information about BIOMASS can be found on the European Space Agency website.
- Earth Defenders! is part funded by the UK Space Agency as part of the Our World from Space programme.
- Earth Defenders! is included in your science centre ticket which gets you all exhibitions, shows and other activities. Find out more and buy tickets.
- Earth Defenders! has also been made available to other science centres across the UK for screening for the week of BIOMASS’ launch.