🚀 Vega-C | 🛰 Biomass forest-monitoring satellite
Launch date: April 29, 2025 09:15 UTC
Payload: Biomass forest-monitoring satellite
Location: ZLV, Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Kourou, French Guiana
Vehicle: Vega-C
The European Space Agency’s Biomass satellite was launched on April 29, 2025, aboard a Vega-C rocket from French Guiana. Following launch, its large umbrella-like antenna was successfully deployed, marking the completion of its early operations phase. Biomass, weighing about 1,170 kg and built by Airbus Defence and Space as part of the ESA Earth Explorer program, carries the first-ever spaceborne P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), allowing it to penetrate forest canopies and measure carbon stocks and fluxes—crucial for understanding Earth’s carbon cycle. After successful launch and deployment, the mission entered its commissioning phase with a planned five-year lifespan. This historic mission, Vega-C’s fourth and second since the 2022 anomaly, was also one of a record six global launches within a 24-hour period. The satellite is now commencing science operations, advancing forest and carbon cycle research.
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ZLV, Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana
ZLV, or Zone de Lancement Vega, is a specialized launch complex located within the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. Constructed on the site of the former ELA-1 pad, it was extensively refurbished to support the European Space Agency’s Vega family of small-lift launch vehicles. Since its first use in 2012, ZLV has enabled Europe to deploy smaller payloads to low Earth orbit as well as sun-synchronous orbits, complementing the larger Ariane and Soyuz launch capabilities at the centre.
ZLV plays a strategic role in European space access by hosting launches for Vega and its upgraded variant, Vega-C. The pad features dedicated infrastructure for solid-propellant vehicles, including a mobile gantry and systems tailored to payload preparation and vehicle integration. Its operational flexibility supports a broad range of scientific, commercial, and governmental missions, reinforcing Europe’s independent access to space.