First leg: Getting the signal

Months of preparation culminated in a flawless liftoff. On 29 April, at 11:15 CEST, Biomass launched as scheduled. At 12:13 UTC, the satellite separated from the launcher, marking the moment when the control baton was passed from the launch provider to the mission control team at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC).

Like runners at the starting line, they took off at once.

At 12:27 UTC, the satellite’s first signal was acquired over Troll station, in Antarctica, confirming it had made it safely to orbit. Soon after, mission operators received confirmation that the solar array had successfully deployed. Power was flowing.

From this moment, the flight dynamics team started calculating the satellite’s initial orbit and planning its transfer to the final operational trajectory. The 9-day race had truly begun.