The European Space Agency’s (ESA) highly anticipated “Biomass” satellite is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, April 29, aboard a European Vega-C rocket from the Kourou Spaceport in South America. Developed to monitor global forest biomass and support climate research, the mission features several crucial components supplied by the Swiss space technology company Beyond Gravity.
Around 30% of Earth’s land surface is covered by forest. By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forests play a crucial role in the carbon cycle and the climate system. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) “Biomass” forest satellite mission will observe the state and development of forests.
“Forests are the green lungs of our planet, providing us with oxygen and storing carbon dioxide. With the environmental satellite Biomass, we are learning more about the importance of forests to our climate system. Contributing to the functioning of such a groundbreaking climate satellite with key products, like various antennas, our navigation receiver, and our multi-layer thermal insulation, is a great honor and extremely inspiring for all our colleagues,” says Oliver Grassmann, Executive Vice President Satellites at Beyond Gravity. Headquartered in Zurich (Switzerland), Beyond Gravity is a leading supplier to both established customers and New Space customers. The main contractor for Biomass is Airbus Defence and Space (UK).
The forest satellite uses a high-power antenna from Beyond Gravity that serves the data downlink needs of new Earth-observing satellites as they gather ever larger quantities of environmental data. The antenna has the size and shape of a large ice cream cone. While more and more Earth observation data from satellites is gathered, the satellite itself becomes smaller. Thus, there was a clear need for a smaller, more powerful data downlink antenna. The X-band helix antenna design was developed for ESA by Beyond Gravity’s site in Gothenburg (Sweden). Beyond Gravity also provided the S-Band TTC (Telemetry, Tracking and Command) antenna. The TTC antenna acts as a communication and control antenna for the satellite.
A thermal insulation from Beyond Gravity protects the forest satellite from the extreme cold and heat in space. A multi-layer thermal insulation made out of several layers of ultra-thin special polyimide foils will keep the instruments of the satellite at the required operating temperature despite the extremely harsh thermal environment in space. The thermal insulation was designed and produced at Beyond Gravity’s sites in Austria. Nearly every European ESA satellite is protected by thermal insulation from Beyond Gravity. Beyond Gravity also produced the Eddy Current Damper, which is part of the spacecraft's solar array wing and provides the damping to slow down the deployment and prevent shocks at deployment completion.
The satellite’s position in space is determined to within centimeters using technology from Beyond Gravity’s site in Vienna, Austria. The more accurate the positioning, the more accurate the data provided by the satellite. The receiver can process both US GPS and European Galileo signals. Currently, Beyond Gravity’s navigation receivers determine the position of approximately 25 satellites in space. The Beyond Gravity site in Tampere, Finland, produced the Reflector Deployment Interface Unit.
At the Beyond Gravity site in Gothenburg, Sweden, the company produced the Vega-C On Board Computer. The computer performs pre-programmed flight sequences during launch and is part of the Vega Avionics System. The company’s site in Linköping, Sweden, delivered the payload adapter system, including the separation system, which will separate the satellite from the launch vehicle. At its location in Emmen, Switzerland, the company produced the payload fairing of the Vega-C rocket. The fairing is the top of the rocket and protects the Biomass satellite during launch and ascent into space.
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