Payload (satellite)
GOSAT (IBUKI)
GOSAT (IBUKI) is a satellite launched 2009-01-23 by Japan.
About
Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT), also known as Ibuki , is an Earth observation satellite and the world's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse gas monitoring. It measures the densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth's atmosphere. The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and launched on 23 January 2009, from the Tanegashima Space Center. Japan's Ministry of the Environment, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) use the data to track gases causing the greenhouse effect, and share the data with NASA and other international scientific organizations.
Right now
Dotted: where it has been. Solid: the next orbit and a half. Orbit data from CelesTrak, map from NASA Blue Marble. All credits