ESA's Biomass launch: A European leap into Earth observation
Over 95 per cent of French Guiana - a French overseas department nestled between Brazil and Suriname - is covered in tropical forests, a wild, thick, humid ecosystem found in regions near the equator.
Tropical forests play an important role in mitigating climate change, as they absorb a great share of the carbon dioxide (CO2) stored in terrestrial biomass.
However, quantifying exactly how much CO2 these forests absorb is challenging, as their dense canopies make them almost impenetrable.
But the answer to these doubts might come from French Guiana itself.
Blasting off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou on April 29, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched Biomass into orbit, a satellite designed to measure the amount of carbon tropical forests store.
Euronews Tech Talks was on site for the liftoff. In the first of two special episodes dedicated to the satellite, the podcast looks back at the eve of the launch to explore the satellite, the people working on it, and how they felt ahead of the crucial launch day.
Biomass is the seventh mission of ESA's Future EO programme, a series of projects based on proposals from scientists to test new technologies and analyse specific aspects of our planet.
In the case of Biomass, its standout feature is its P-band radar, a technology never used before in space.
The P-band instrument, which resembles an umbrella, sends low-frequency signals that penetrate the canopy and bounce back to the satellite, providing data on the quantity of carbon stored and its location within the trees.
This instrument will not replace on-the-ground research on tropical forests, but it will provide essential data to understand their role in carbon flows.
In fact, grasping how much carbon is stored in terrestrial biomass can help researchers determine the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
"It's not just scientifically relevant, but it also has real value for all of us citizens," Simonetta Cheli, ESA director of Earth observation programmes, told Euronews.
"It contributes to a healthier planet, to improving our health and the quality of the air we breathe," she continued.
To organise and conduct the mission, ESA relied on the support of multiple European actors.
The satellite was manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, and launched into orbit by the Vega C.
The rocket's components were produced across 13 ESA member states, with the Italian company Avio serving as the lead contractor and design authority of the project.
"It took us years to get here, but now we're able to offer a range of launch capabilities that can meet practically any need in Europe," Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, told Euronews.
The other two important players in the project are Arianespace and CNES, the French space agency.
The former oversaw the launch and is responsible for the commercial exploitation of the launcher.
The latter contributed to the research behind the satellite's development, managed the launch campaign, and is involved in collecting data from the satellite in orbit.
All these actors worked together for over a decade to prepare the satellite and its launch into space, a challenging move due to the ambitious novelty of the P-band radar.
On April 28, the day before the launch, Kourou spaceport welcomed representatives, professionals and journalists looking forward to witnessing Biomass's lift-off.
In the Jupiter Centre, one of the main buildings in the space facility housing the Mission Control Room, the air was filled with a shared sense of anticipation.
Some people were rational, including Jean-Frédéric Alasa, launch range operations director at CNES.
"We're always excited to launch because it's the end of a long phase of preparation," he told Euronews. "But we also consider the situation in which we have a failure, because a launch is complicated".
Others were driven by a determined optimism.
"We are very confident, it will work, and it will be useful for all of us," Michael Fehringer, Biomass project manager, told Euronews.
But how did the launch go?
To find out more, listen to this episode of Euronews Tech Talks and to the next one, out on May 28.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
12 hours ago
- Euronews
'Day of the Jackal' author Frederick Forsyth dies at 86
Frederick Forsyth, the author of "The Day of the Jackal" and other bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness, his literary agent said on Monday. Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early on Monday at the age of 86 surrounded by his family. "We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," Lloyd said. Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before becoming a foreign correspondent and a novelist. "The Day of the Jackal," published in 1971, propelled him to global fame. The political thriller about a professional assassin was made into a film in 1973 and more recently a television series starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch. He wrote more than 25 books including "The Afghan," "The Kill List," and "The Fist of God" that have sold over 75 million copies, Lloyd said. The disparity of sperm donor laws in Europe has been called into question after a Danish sperm donor with an inherited cancer mutation is said to have helped conceive at least 67 children across Europe, mostly in Belgium. The European Sperm Bank (ESB) allegedly used gametes from a Danish donor who unknowingly carried a rare variation of the TP53 gene that increases the risk of early cancer. Out of the 67 children he helped to conceive, 23 of them are carriers of the variant, 10 of whom have developed cancer. The case was revealed at the end of May by Dr. Edwige Kasper, a biologist at Rouen University Hospital, at a meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan. "It's a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which will give rise to multiple cancers with a very broad spectrum, so children who are carriers of this variant need to be monitored very closely," the specialist in hereditary predispositions to cancer told Euronews. Of the 10 children who have developed a form of cancer, the doctor counts four haemopathies, four brain tumours and two types of sarcoma that affect the muscles. The case has highlighted the shortcomings of sperm donation policies across Europe. While most European countries limit the number of children fathered by a single donor, or the number of families that can be helped by a single donor, there is no limit at international or European level. The conditions around anonymity also vary from country to country. "We will end up with an abnormal spread of a genetic pathology, because the sperm bank involved in this case has set a limit of 75 families from the donor. Other sperm banks have not set a limit," explained Kasper. Although donors are subject to medical examinations and genetic tests, "there is no perfect pre-selection," explained Ayo Wahlberg, researcher and a member of the Danish Council on Ethics. "Technology is developing so fast. Genetic testing technologies and their costs are falling so fast that, if we compare 10 or 15 years ago and today in terms of recruitment and the types of genetic tests that can be carried out as part of the screening process, a lot has changed," the professor explained. The rules governing sperm donation vary from one European country to another. The maximum number of children from a single donor varies from 15 in Germany to one in Cyprus. Other countries prefer to limit the number of families that can use the same donor to give them the opportunity to have brothers and sisters. For example, the same donor can help 12 families in Denmark and six families in Sweden or Belgium. In addition, donations are kept anonymous in countries such as France and Greece. In other member states such as Austria, the person born of a gamete donation may have access to the identity of his or her parent. In Germany and Bulgaria, donations may or may not be anonymous, depending on the circumstances. In the Netherlands, the process is not anonymous. Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian National Medical Ethics Councils raised concerns over a lack of regulation at an international and European level, claiming it increases the risk of the spread of genetic diseases and consanguinity. "The risk that a genetic disease will unknowingly spread much more widely (with a large number of offspring) than if the number (of offspring) had been smaller," Wahlberg said. "The first step is therefore to establish or introduce a limit of families per donor. The second step is to create a national register. And the third step is of course to have a European register based on the national registers," Sven-Erik Söder, President of the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics, told Euronews. In the age of social media and thorough DNA testing, donor anonymity can no longer be 100% guaranteed, which some have argued could put off people from donating. When asked if the introduction of regulations could lead to a shortage of sperm donations, Söder said the solution is not the absence of restrictions, but instead encourage people to donate.
Euronews
14 hours ago
- Euronews
Sperm donation policies in Europe questioned after cancer scare
The disparity of sperm donor laws in Europe has been called into question after a Danish sperm donor with an inherited cancer mutation is said to have helped conceive at least 67 children across Europe, mostly in Belgium. The European Sperm Bank (ESB) allegedly used gametes from a Danish donor who unknowingly carried a rare variation of the TP53 gene that increases the risk of early cancer. Out of the 67 children he helped to conceive, 23 of them are carriers of the variant, 10 of whom have developed cancer. The case was revealed at the end of May by Dr. Edwige Kasper, a biologist at Rouen University Hospital, at a meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan. "It's a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which will give rise to multiple cancers with a very broad spectrum, so children who are carriers of this variant need to be monitored very closely," the specialist in hereditary predispositions to cancer told Euronews. Of the 10 children who have developed a form of cancer, the doctor counts four haemopathies, four brain tumours and two types of sarcoma that affect the muscles. The case has highlighted the shortcomings of sperm donation policies across Europe. While most European countries limit the number of children fathered by a single donor, or the number of families that can be helped by a single donor, there is no limit at international or European level. The conditions around anonymity also vary from country to country. "We will end up with an abnormal spread of a genetic pathology, because the sperm bank involved in this case has set a limit of 75 families from the donor. Other sperm banks have not set a limit," explained Kasper. Although donors are subject to medical examinations and genetic tests, "there is no perfect pre-selection," explained Ayo Wahlberg, researcher and a member of the Danish Council on Ethics. "Technology is developing so fast. Genetic testing technologies and their costs are falling so fast that, if we compare 10 or 15 years ago and today in terms of recruitment and the types of genetic tests that can be carried out as part of the screening process, a lot has changed," the professor explained. The rules governing sperm donation vary from one European country to another. The maximum number of children from a single donor varies from 15 in Germany to one in Cyprus. Other countries prefer to limit the number of families that can use the same donor to give them the opportunity to have brothers and sisters. For example, the same donor can help 12 families in Denmark and six families in Sweden or Belgium. In addition, donations are kept anonymous in countries such as France and Greece. In other member states such as Austria, the person born of a gamete donation may have access to the identity of his or her parent. In Germany and Bulgaria, donations may or may not be anonymous, depending on the circumstances. In the Netherlands, the process is not anonymous. Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian National Medical Ethics Councils raised concerns over a lack of regulation at an international and European level, claiming it increases the risk of the spread of genetic diseases and consanguinity. "The risk that a genetic disease will unknowingly spread much more widely (with a large number of offspring) than if the number (of offspring) had been smaller," Wahlberg said. "The first step is therefore to establish or introduce a limit of families per donor. The second step is to create a national register. And the third step is of course to have a European register based on the national registers," Sven-Erik Söder, President of the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics, told Euronews. In the age of social media and thorough DNA testing, donor anonymity can no longer be 100% guaranteed, which some have argued could put off people from donating. When asked if the introduction of regulations could lead to a shortage of sperm donations, Söder said the solution is not the absence of restrictions, but instead encourage people to donate. A referendum in Italy on citizenship requirements and job protection is likely to have failed, as turnout was far below the required threshold, polling agency YouTrend said on Monday. Turnout needed to be at least 50% plus one vote to make the referendum results binding, but based on data collected from 60,000 polling stations, turnout was around 30%. The referendum, proposed by trade unions and civic organisations, addresses issues that have generated political debate in Italy in recent years, particularly labour market reform, primarily the 2016 Labour Act, as well as migrant reception and integration policies. The first four questions relate to labour issues and concern the increasing protection of workers, small enterprises and their obligations towards employees, short-term contracts, and the responsibility of clients towards subcontracting parties and employees' safety. The fifth question concerns the period of time necessary for non-EU nationals residing in the country to be eligible for Italian citizenship, proposing to reduce it from 10 to five years. The parties of the ruling coalition, led by Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, opposed the referendum, with some politicians urging citizens not to participate in the vote. According to the advocacy group International Democracy Community, although opposition parties have supported the referendum, it is primarily a citizens' initiative and not a political matter. "The referendum questions were proposed through a bottom-up approach, and did not come from parliament," the International Democracy Community said in a statement. "Members of the Europa+ party launched the initiative on the citizenship question, whilst the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) has been the initiator of the Labour Act ones, with support from the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement, and the Green and Left Alliance." According to exit data after polls closed at 3 pm, the "yes" vote for the four labour law questions stood at around 85%, while 60% of voters said yes to the citizenship question. The referendum coincided with local elections in several Italian regions and municipalities.
France 24
17 hours ago
- France 24
Saving the ocean: 'We have to be optimistic because it's our only planet,' scientist says
One of the world's leading researchers on the state of our oceans has spoken to FRANCE 24 as the UN Ocean Conference got underway in the French Riviera city of Nice. The event is focused on "accelerating action and mobilising all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean". We spoke to Chris Bowler, the scientific coordinator of the Tara Ocean Programme – first about that programme and then about his reaction to French President Emmanuel Macron's opening speech at the conference in Nice.
