Amid growing demand for telecommunication and monitoring satellites in Southeast Asia, Vietnam said it plans to design and bring to space its first home-grown satellites.
According to Nguyen Duc Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Aerospace Association, there are two kinds of satellites Vietnam has growing needs for; Geostationary telecommunication satellites and remote sensing satellites that serve weather forecasting and environmental monitoring.
Experts believe that believe that Vietnam could master the technology necessary to build such satellites instead of buying them from foreign providers for years to come.
The Vietnam National Satellite Center, a Hanoi-based research center under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, has already taken the first step and developed the first prototype of a Vietnamese-built satellite, called created Pico Dragon.
It is a tiny satellite with the weight of just one kilogramme, launched on a test ride into orbit in a cooperation programme with Japan. The satellite could fly for a certain time and transmit signals to Earth.
The next step is to build slightly bigger satellites with the weight of ten to 50 kilogrammes with longer life times in orbit and more functions.One of them is Micro Dragon, designed to observe coastal waters to determine water quality, locate fisheries resources and monitor changes in coastal waters for the fisheries industry.
One of them is Micro Dragon, designed to observe coastal waters to determine water quality, locate fisheries resources and monitor changes in coastal waters for the fisheries industry.
However, the ultimate goal is to construct more sophisticated and advanced satellites.
In cooperation with Japan, the Vietnam National Satellite Center is working on developing two types of radar-equipped satellites weighing 600 kilogrammes each dubbed LOTUSat-1 and LOTUSat-2.
Vietnam is set to launch the two radar satellites in 2019 and 2022, respectively, from commercial launch pads either in Russia, US, French Guyana, India or China to assist in predicting and preparing for weather and climate extremes.
They are the first employing the high-resolution technology to capture images in various weather conditions and are the country’s most ambitious science and technology project ever developed by the Vietnam National Satellites Center with an investment of $600 million.
Source : investvine
