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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's national aero-space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and the launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions, such as asteroid exploration and possible manned exploration of the Moon. JAXA launch their Epsilon vehicle from the Uchinoura Space Center and their H-II vehicles from the Tanegashima Space Center.
GOSAT-GW (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), formerly known as GOSAT 3, is JAXA's next generation satellite to monitor the greenhosue gases like carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. It is the follow on to the GOSAT 2 (Ibuki 2) and GCOM-W (Shizuku) missions. GOSAT-GW will have two missions: greenhouse gases observation for Japan's Ministry of the Environment and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and water-cycle observation for JAXA. By developing the GOSAT-GW satellite, Mitsubishi Electric will contribute to measures for preventing disasters attributed to global warming and climate change, and to advance scientific and technological methods that enable more accurate prediction of climate change. In December 2013, Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) was selected as the prime contractor for the spacecraft and the instruments.
Height 53.00 Meters
Max Stages 2
Mass To GTO 4100 kg
Liftoff Thrust 2260 kN
Diameter 4.00 Meters
Mass To LEO 10000 kg
Liftoff Mass 285 Tonnes
Launch Success 34
Consecutive Success 34
Maiden Flight 2001-08-29
Launch Failures 0