Satellite launches on mission to "weigh" the world's 1.5 trillion trees

Researchers have successfully launched a new satellite that is designed to study the planet's forests and "provide unprecedented insight" into how those regions impact the Earth's carbon cycle, the European Space Agency  announced on Tuesday. 

The satellite, named Biomass, launched with a rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, New Guinea, and separated from the rocket less than an hour after launch,  the ESA said in a news release. About 75 minutes after the launch, ESA satellite controllers received Biomass' first signal, indicating that the satellite is working as expected in orbit. 

Over the next few days, controllers will carry out the satellite's "launch and early orbit" phase, making sure that all systems are working well, the ESA said, and the satellite will make a "series of intricate maneuvers" to deploy a nearly 40-foot-wide mesh reflector. That reflector will receive data from the world's forests, the ESA said.