Earth Monitoring: Technology and Applications RECENT EARTH OBSERVATION RESULTS OF FORMOSAT-2 20 th Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) Meeting Taipei, ROC August 23-27, 2005 FORMOSAT-2 Jeng-Shing Chern and Chi-Li Chang National Space Organization (NSPO), Taiwan, ROC

CONTENTS 1.Characteristics of FORMOSAT-2 2.Daily Repetitive Capability 3.In-Orbit Performance Verification 4.South Asia Tsunami Disaster Observation 5.Taiwan Typhoon Disaster Observation 6.Conclusions

1. Characteristics of FORMOSAT-2  Weight at launch: 750 kg  Dimensions: 2.4 m height, 1.6 m diameter, hexahedron  Orbit: 888 km altitude, sun-synchronous, 14 rev per day sun-synchronous, 14 rev per day  Local time at descending node (LTDN): 10:00 am  Ground sampling distance (GSD): 2 m PAN, 8 m MS  Swath: 24 km  Agility: +/- 45 deg across/along track  Duty cycle: 8%  Launch date and mission life: 21 May 2004, 5 yrs

2. Daily Repetitive Capability (1/2)  Daily repetitive capability is the most important and unique characteristics of FORMOSAT-2.  Two major advantages of daily repetitive capability: a) To observe day-to-day changes; b) To reduce weather effect to the minimum.  Images of Kao-Shiung harbor taken on 10, 11 and 12 July 2004 are shown next chart.

Kao-Shiung Harbor, Taiwan 2. Daily Repetitive Capability (2/2) 2004/07/ /07/ /07/12

3. In-Orbit Performance Verification (1/2)  Agility verification: +/- 10 deg roll in 25 sec, +/- 30 deg roll in 60 sec, and +/- 45 deg pitch in 60 sec  GSD verification: 2m +/- 5% for PAN, and 8m +/- 5% for MS  MTF verification: 0.12 for PAN, and 0.30 for MS  SNR verification: 92 for PAN, and 175  Pointing knowledge and accuracy verification: 450m per axis knowledge, and 2km pointing accuracy  ISUAL commissioning

3. In-Orbit Performance Verification (2/2) – PAN MTF Results: MTF=0.138 across-track, MTF=0.134 along-track, (Specification value=0.12)

4. South Asia Disaster Observation (1/12) --- Orbits of FORMOSAT-2 Orbits Orbits 2 & 3 of FORMOSAT-2 pass over disastrous areas everyday. Orbit 1 Orbit 2Orbit 3 Orbit 2Orbit 1

Total observation areas in 4 weeks. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (2/12) --- Orbit of FORMOSAT-2

Observation on Aceh, Indonesia. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation(3/12) --- Aceh (Indonesia)

Images taken by Ikonos (before) and FORMOSAT-2 (after). 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (4/12) --- Aceh (Indonesia)

Images taken by Ikonos (before) and FORMOSAT-2 (after). 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (5/12) --- Aceh (Indonesia)

Images taken by Ikonos (before) and FORMOSAT-2 (after). 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (6/12) --- Aceh (Indonesia)

4. South Asia Disaster Observation (7/12) --- Nicobar (India) Houses destroyed by Tsunami and covered by sand.

A small wiped island near Nicobar. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (8/12) --- Nicobar (India)

Maavaafushi seashore has been destroyed. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (9/12) --- Maldives

Tsunami footprint after enhancement processing. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (10/12) --- Maldives

Observation on Phuket, Thailand. 4. South Asia Disaster Observation (11/12) --- Phuket (Thailand)

4. South Asia Disaster Observation (12/12) --- Ranong (Thailand)

5. Typhoon Disaster Observation (1/3) Mudslides Landslides A B A1 A2 B1 B2 Mudslide and landslide areas observed in Hsinchu County.

Township ravaged by typhoon Aere, location A1 of region A. 5. Typhoon Disaster Observation (2/3)

5. Typhoon Disaster Observation (3/3) 2 2 Mudslide located at A2 of region A.

6. Conclusions (1/2)  Daily repetitive capability enables FORMOSAT-2 to cope with weather effect as much as possible.  FORMOSAT-2 observed South Asia seaquake and tsunami disastrous areas for 4 weeks. In the first week, NSPO provided images on-line free.  FORMOSAT-2 did contribute to rescue and disaster evaluation each time Taiwan was attacked by typhoon. We also got support from other remote sensing satellite (RSS).

6. Conclusions (2/2)  Whenever and wherever a disaster occurs, real time and accurate information is always the most urgent and important need.  To coordinate currently orbiting RSS and organize an “Earth Observation Rescue Network (EORN)” could benefit humankind from mitigating the pain and harm caused by disasters.  APAN probably has this kind of policy or concept already.