The goal of CROPEX25 is to enhance agricultural support from space by globally capturing soil moisture, biomass, and vegetation cover.
The researchers used hyperspectral images from HySpex to derive important biophysical parameters, including above-ground biomass and soil moisture.
The BIOMASS mission will provide the international Earth observation community with data to capture spatial patterns of biomass and forest heights.
The IOC phase for BIOMASS is scheduled to last approximately six months.
The BIOMASS team at DLR generated the first radar image from the ESA Earth observation satellite BIOMASS, marking it as the first focused SAR image in the P-band taken from space.
BIOMASS is the first space-based mission in the P-band and the first fully polarimetric ESA mission.
By the end of the IOC phase in November 2025, BIOMASS will transition to its operational orbit and begin regular data collection.
DLR supported ESA throughout all mission phases with the development of key algorithms for calibration, ionospheric correction, and forest biomass measurement using polarimetric SAR interferometry and tomography.
The Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the BIOMASS satellite ended with the deployment of its twelve-meter reflector antenna.
The first radar acquisition from the BIOMASS satellite took place on May 22, 2025.
The BIOMASS satellite was launched on April 29, 2025, from the spaceport in French Guiana as the seventh Earth Explorer mission by ESA.
Long SAR acquisitions covering distances of up to 12,000 kilometers are being made to analyze the ionosphere during BIOMASS's ascending and descending orbits.
The planning and execution of the IOC phase for BIOMASS is more complex than conventional SAR systems due to the mission's innovative design.
The In-Orbit Commissioning (IOC) phase of BIOMASS began nearly two weeks earlier than planned after the LEOP.
Thuy Le Toan notes that the Biomass satellite may also reveal what is hidden under ice or sand, such as ancient riverbeds below the Sahara Desert.
Thuy Le Toan proposed the Biomass mission in 2005 to quantify plant biomass in forests.
Laurent Ferro-Famil heads up the Biomass research team at the CESBIO biosphere research center.
The satellite's algorithms calculate biomass and forest height using inversion algorithms based on field data.
The P-band radar on the Biomass satellite is able to penetrate the forest canopy down to 40 meters.
A global network called GEO-TREES has been set up to optimize data quality for biomass mapping and create a uniform global forest inventory.