ALOS-2 launch and initial checkout result

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) carries the state-of-the-art L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) called PALSAR-2 which succeeds to the ALOS / PALSAR. PALSAR-2 has an enhanced performance in both high resolution and wide swath compared to PALSAR. It will allow comprehensive monitoring of disasters. Wider bandwidth and shorter revisit time will give better conference for interferometry SAR (INSAR) data analysis such as crustal deformation and deforestation. ALOS-2 was launched on 24th May 2014, and has been completed the initial functional verifications of onboard components and systems. This paper describes the initial operation and checkout results including the comparison with the previous SAR satellite image and the disaster monitoring. Some key features of orbit control and determination to improve the coherency of the repeat-pass INSAR observation are evaluated.