A few days after ESA’s Earth Explorer Biomass satellite has been launched and after its very first health checks in orbit have been done,  a series of complex manoeuvres are carried out to deploy its 12-metre diameter mesh reflector, which is supported by a boom, which is 7.5 metres long.

The deployment of the boom is carried out in three carefully planned separate stages, each of which takes about seven minutes. However, only one step is carried out per day and during selected passes that offer maximum coverage from the ground stations. This ensures that each step of the boom deployment is full ‘visible’ to the satellite operators.

Once the boom is fully extended above the satellite, another step opens up the fine wire mesh antenna, like an umbrella. This takes around 20 minutes and is a critical phase that has to be carried out during a pass that offers 50% visibility of the deployment process to the ground stations.

The reflector transmits the Biomass P-band radar’s footprint onto Earth’s surface and receives the returned signal, which carries information about the carbon content of forests.

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