# GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW)
*missions*

## Specifications
- **operator**: jaxa
- **actual launch**: 2025-06-29
- **current status**: commissioning
- **orbit type**: Sun-synchronous orbit, 666 km altitude, 13:30 ascending equator crossing time
- **revisit days**: 3
- **tasking supported**: true
- **current geographic priority**: Global greenhouse-gas and water-cycle observations, with TANSO-3 wide and focus modes and AMSR3 microwave imagery.
- **launch vehicle**: jaxa-h-iia
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: jaxa
- **attributes**: {"operator":"jaxa","actual_launch":"2025-06-29","current_status":"commissioning","orbit_type":"Sun-synchronous orbit, 666 km altitude, 13:30 ascending equator crossing time","revisit_days":3,"tasking_supported":true,"current_geographic_priority":"Global greenhouse-gas and water-cycle observations, with TANSO-3 wide and focus modes and AMSR3 microwave imagery.","launch_vehicle":"jaxa-h-iia"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
GOSAT-GW, also known as IBUKI GW (Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), is a JAXA-operated Earth observation mission designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases and the water cycle. It is the third flight unit of the GOSAT programme, following GOSAT and GOSAT-2.[^nies-gosatgw-spacecraft]

The satellite was launched on 2025-06-29 by H-IIA from Tanegashima Space Center. JAXA and NIES report the launch as 2025-06-29 in local time (JST); the WMO OSCAR record lists 2025-06-28 UTC.[^nies-gosatgw-spacecraft][^wmo-gosatgw] As of mid-2026 the satellite was in the commissioning phase. AMSR3 began collecting verification observations on 2025-08-11.[^jaxa-amsr3-results]

GOSAT-GW flies in a sun-synchronous orbit at 666 km altitude with a 13:30 local time ascending node and a 3-day repeat cycle.[^wmo-gosatgw] Its two main instruments are the TANSO-3 grating imaging spectrometer, which measures CO2, CH4 and other greenhouse gases in wide and focus observation modes, and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 3 (AMSR3), a passive microwave radiometer for precipitation, sea-surface temperature, sea ice, and water vapour observations.[^nies-gosatgw-spacecraft][^gosat-gw-paper]

## Compositional position
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[mission_payloads]--> amsr3 (products)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[mission_payloads]--> tanso-3 (products)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[related-topic]--> greenhouse-gas-flux (topics)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[related-topic]--> methane (topics)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[related-topic]--> co2 (topics)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[related-topic]--> precipitation (topics)
- GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW) --[related-topic]--> sea-surface-temperature (topics)

## Sources
- [nies-gosatgw-spacecraft] | NIES GOSAT-GW spacecraft and instruments | https://gosat-gw.nies.go.jp/en/gosat-gw02.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [jaxa-amsr3-results] | JAXA early observation results of AMSR3 onboard GOSAT-GW | https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2025/09/20250905-1_e.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-gosatgw] | GOSAT-GW, WMO OSCAR satellite record | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/gosat_gw | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-14
- [gosat-gw-paper] | The greenhouse gas observation mission with GOSAT-GW | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40645-025-00684-9 | tier=peer-reviewed | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/gosat-gw
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)