In the next few years the first three-dimensional looks at the world’s forests will possible thanks to projects run by a NASA mission called GEDI – the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation ; the NISAR mission – a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization, and the Biomass satellite - a system selected by the European Space Agency. Using new waves of innovative sensors, lasers, detectors and satellites, these projects will assess the world’s plant life and how it is changing – how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere, for example, when forests are destroyed. These eyes will be invaluable in efforts to protect and regenerate forests too. Understating the flow of carbon between living matter and the atmosphere is crucial if we are to tackle global warming caused by carbon dioxide. We know that the ocean absorbs 25 per cent of the carbon we emit. However, when it comes to accounting for the rest of carbon that vanishes from the air, whether it disappears in forests, and what processes govern it, we do not have exact answers. Lack of knowledge about forests emerged in 2018 when scientists attempted to quantify the total mass of life on Earth for the first time. They estimated that nature contains the equivalent of about 550 billion tonnes of carbon. It was a big surprise to discover that bacteria do not account for much of this. Land plants alone make up 80 per cent and most of this biomass is in trees. Hence, thanks to these projects we will have a much better idea of where the missing carbon goes – or at least how much of it is being taken up by trees.