Mitsubishi
Electric Begins
Developing
GOSAT-2
Satellite System
April 9, 2014
Mitsubishi
Electric
Corporation, the
contractor
selected to
supply the Japan
Aerospace
Exploration
Agency (JAXA)
with a
Greenhouse gases
Observing
SATellite-2
(GOSAT-2) for
launch in 2017,
signed a
contract to
officially begin
developing the
satellite
system. GOSAT-2
will feature a
range of highly
advanced
instruments,
including
greenhouse gas
and
cloud/aerosol
sensors, which
will contribute
to the Proactive
Diplomatic
Strategy for
Countering
Global Warming
announced by the
Japanese
government at
the UN Climate
Change
Conference (COP
19) in Warsaw,
Poland last
year.
Weighing
approximately
1.7 tons,
GOSAT-2 will be
put into a
sun-synchronous
sub-recurrent
orbit with a
design life of
five years to
observe
concentrations
and
distributions of
greenhouse gases
and particulates
in the global
atmosphere.
As a result
of the Kyoto
Protocol
signed at
COP3 in
Kyoto, Japan
in 1997, the
Mitsubishi
Electric-built
IBUKI, also
known as
GOSAT, was
launched as
the world's
first
satellite
dedicated to
greenhouse
gas
observations
in January
2009. As the
next step,
Mitsubishi
Electric
will now
develop
GOSAT-2
under the
joint
auspices of
Japan's
Ministry of
the
Environment,
the National
Institute
for
Environmental
Studies and
JAXA.
IBUKI's
observational
data is
openly
available
worldwide to
governmental
institutions,
scientists
and even
individuals
registered
online. The
data is
being used
to ascertain
the global
distribution
of carbon
dioxide and
methane
gases and
how the
sources and
sinks of
these gases
vary by
season, year
and
location.
GOSAT-2 will
strengthen
such
observations
by using
high-performance
sensors to
provide even
more precise
measurements.
