Japan began monitoring methane from space with the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) launched in 2009.
More than 70 objects from the H-2A upper stage that launched Ibuki-2 (GOSAT-2) are currently being tracked.
The H-2A upper stage that launched Ibuki-2 (GOSAT-2) was left in an orbit more than 100 km above the International Space Station and broke up in February 2019.
Jonathan McDowell identified the debris involved in the 2020-09-22 close approach as originating from an upper stage of a Japanese H-2A rocket that launched the Ibuki-2 (GOSAT-2) Earth science satellite in 2018-10-01.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre’s KhalifaSat Earth-observation satellite in October as a co-passenger with Japan’s GOSAT-2 on an H2-A.
JAXA started contracting development work for GOSAT-3 in 2020.
JAXA is preparing to launch the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite 2 (GOSAT-2) on an H-2A rocket scheduled for 2018-10-29.