Satellite Scales?

UK has won a contract to construct a satellite that will weigh the world’s trees.

13:17 06 May 2016

The UK has signed a €229m contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday to lead the construction of a satellite that will weigh the world’s trees. The spacecraft will be assembled by the UK arm of Airbus Defence and Space and will be used to collect data to improve our knowledge on how carbon is cycled through the Earth system.

 

The mission is part of Esa’s Earth Explorer programme which operates a fleet of satellite that deploys innovative sensor technology to address crucial environmental questions.

 

"Effectively, we'll be weighing the forests," said Prof Shaun Quegan, a Sheffield University scientist and one of the key proposers of the mission.

 

"We'll know their weight and their height at a scale of 200m, and we'll see how they are changing over time.

"This will give us unprecedented information on deforestation - on how much carbon is going into the atmosphere from this source. At the same time, we'll also see how much carbon is being taken up in regrowth,"

 

Meanwhile, Airbus executive Andy Stroomer, said: "This is further proof of the confidence Esa has in UK industry to deliver," It also affirms our approach to re-use proven systems to reduce cost.

 

"So, although Biomass with its big antenna looks quite different from Sentinel-5p, they actually share many of the same components, particularly the electronics."