[6] The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and launched on 23 January 2009, from the Tanegashima Space Center.

[5] GOSAT was launched along with seven other piggyback probes using the H-IIA, Japan's primary large-scale expendable launch system, at 3:54 am on 23 January 2009 UTC on Tanegashima, a small island in southern Japan, after a two-day delay due to unfavourable weather.

[8] The satellite uses a spectrometer to measure different elements and compounds based on their response to certain types of light.

This technology allows the satellite to measure "the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a super-high resolution.

"[9] The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 was launched from Tanegashima Space Center by a H-IIA rocket on October 29, 2018.