Media advisory: Earth Explorer Biomass satellite launch media events
14 April 2025
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite will launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 29 April 2025. Journalists are cordially invited to participate in the below events (please register separately for each event you wish to attend):
1) Thursday 24 April (09:30 am ?10:30 am CEST): online pre-launch briefing in English
Please register here: [link]
This press briefing and Q&A will be held with:
2) Thursday 24 April (10:30 am -11:30 am CEST) online pre-launch briefing in French
Please register here: [link]
This press briefing and Q&A will be held with:
3) Thursday 24 April (11:30 am -12:30 pm CEST) online pre-launch briefing in Italian
Please register here: [link]
This press briefing and Q&A will be held with:
4) Thursday 24 April (2:00 pm-3:00 pm CEST) online pre-launch briefing in German
Please register here: [link]
This press briefing and Q&A will be held with:
5) Tuesday 29 April (08:30 am-1:30 pm CEST): Media launch event at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany
How to get there: www.esa.int/esoc
Programme
08:30 ? Doors open / Security check-in at ESOC 09:00?10:00 Media briefing in Press Centre, Q & A, interviews, visit of satellite control rooms10:00?10:45 Doors open to high-level stage programme in conference centre
10:45?12:45 Stage show including live TV feed from Europe's Spaceport via Arianespace.
13:00 End of stage event, visit of main control room (subject to on-going operations)
13:30-14:30 Further interviews in Press Centre ? followed by closing doors at ESOC
Key spokespeople and senior experts from ESA, Airbus, scientific partners and other user communities will be available on site for interviews including:
Please register here [link] for the media event at ESOC by 24 April.
6) Tuesday 29 April (08:15 am GFT - Kourou,French Guiana / 1:15 pm CEST): Post launch press conference
Following the launch, a press conference will be organised on site in Kourou. The press conference will be broadcast live on youtube, and a WhatsApp group will be set up for journalists wishing to send their questions to the speakers.
Please register here [link] to receive the youtube link and join the WhatsApp group by 24 April.
Registration: Please express interest?by selecting and completing the relevant form at?https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form
About the Biomass mission
Forests are vital to the health of the planet and the carbon cycle, absorbing and storing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, which helps regulate the planet's climate. However, widespread deforestation releases this stored carbon back into the atmosphere, intensifying climate change.
ESA's Biomass is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar capable of penetrating the forest canopy to measure the biomass and height of forests, consistently across the globe and across different forest types. This information will be used to work out how much biomass ? a proxy for carbon ? is being stored in forests, and, thus, yield a better understanding of how forests are changing over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.
The satellite will spend at least five years making detailed observations and witnessing at least eight growth cycles in the world's forests. Data from the mission will improve current assessments and future projections of the global carbon cycle, which is critical given the climate crisis. Observations from this new mission will also lead to better insight into the rates of habitat loss and, as a result, the effect this may have on biodiversity in the forest environment.
Further information on Biomass
Biomass background information and latest news: www.esa.int/biomass
ESA Earth Observation Programmes: www.esa.int/eo
ESA: www.esa.int
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Missions/Biomass/(result_type)/images
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Directorates/Observing_the_Earth/(result_type)/images
Terms and conditions for using ESA images:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Missions/Biomass/(result_type)/videos
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/(archive)/0/(type)/video
https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos_for_Professionals
Terms and conditions for using ESA videos:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website
Follow ESA on: X: @esa @ESA_EO
Bluesky: @esa Bluesky Instagram: @europeanspaceagency @ESA_Earth Facebook:?EuropeanSpaceAgency YouTube:?ESA LinkedIn:?European Space Agency - ESA Pinterest:?European Space Agency - ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe's gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.
ESA has established formal cooperation with other four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.
Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int
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