Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan made the statement at a ceremony in Hanoi on September 4 during which Astrium SAS, an affiliate of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, handed over control of the satellite to the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).
The Deputy PM congratulated the VAST staff and scientists and their French partners on the successful launch of the satellite in May, saying that it has marked Vietnam’s boundary in space.
With VNREDSat-1, Vietnam has fully mastered small satellite technology, thereby independently processing images of all regions belonging to the country’s territory, he noted.
Dr. Bui Trong Tuyen, deputy director of the Institute of Space Technology and head of the Small Satellite Project Management Unit, said that after more than three months of being in orbit, the satellite has established stable operations.
As of September 1, VNREDSat-1 had captured and processed a total of 9,271 images, of which 999 featured Vietnamese territory, he said.
VNREDSat-1 was launched into orbit on May 7 from the Kourou launch pad in Guiana, France.
In order to maintain the operations of the satellite, 15 young engineers from VAST were trained in France for nearly two years.
Designed by Astrium SAS, the satellite is capable of capturing images of all parts of the world, and is expected to assist with efforts to manage flooding, forest fire, oil spills and other incidents.
The project was funded by VND1.6 trillion (US$73.5 million) sourced from French Official Development Assistance and Vietnam’s contribution of nearly VND65 billion (US$3.2 million).
Following the success of two telecommunications satellites, Vinasat 1 in 2008 and Vinasat 2 in 2012, and the first remote sensing satellite, VNREDSat-1, a Vietnamese-made micro satellite named Pico Dragon was shipped to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 4 to prepare to go into orbit.
