Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2

The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2), also known as Ibuki-2 (Japanese: いぶき2号, Hepburn: Ibuki nigō), is an Earth observation satellite dedicated to greenhouse gas monitoring. It is a successor of Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). The GOSAT-2 was developed as a joint project of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Ministry of the Environment, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES). It was launched on 29 October 2018 from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard the H-IIA rocket.^{[citation needed]}

Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2

Names	Ibuki-2
Mission type	Environmental
Operator	JAXA
COSPAR ID	2018-084B
SATCAT no.	43672
Website	www.satnavi.jaxa.jp/e/project/gosat2/
Mission duration	5 years (planned) Elapsed: 6 years, 7 months
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Mitsubishi Electric[1]
Launch mass	1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb)[1]
Power	5000 W[1]
Start of mission
Launch date	29 October 2018 04:08 (2018-10-29UTC04:08) UTC
Rocket	H-IIA F40
Launch site	Tanegashima, Yoshinobu 1
Contractor	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Eccentricity	0.00106[2]
Altitude	612.98 km[2]
Inclination	97.84°[2]
Period	98.1 minutes[2]
Main Instrument
Wavelengths	0.75 – 0.77 μm / 1.56 – 1.69 μm / 1.92 – 2.38 μm / 5.6 – 8.4 μm / 8.4 – 14.3 μm (FTS-2)[3]
Resolution	0.2 cm−1 (FTS-2)
Instruments
TANSO-FTS-2 - Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer TANSO-CAI-2 - Thermal and Near-Infrared Sensor

Comparison to GOSAT

Major changes in comparison to the previous GOSAT are:^[4]

• Improved measurement precision.
• FTS-2 can also monitor carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).
• FTS-2 can select cloud-free point automatically for observation.
• While GOSAT's CAI was observing nadir view, GOSAT-2's CAI-2 observes forward (20 degree) and backward (20 degree) simultaneously.
• CAI-2 can also monitor PM2.5 and black carbon.^[1]

Successor: GOSAT-GW

As of November 2023^[update], GOSAT-GW (Ibuki-GW), the successor of GOSAT-2 and GCOM-W "Shizuku", is under development for launch in JFY2024 on the last flight of the H-IIA launch vehicle.^[5]