Vietnamese researchers work on the nanoDragon satellite project. (Photo: VNSC)

Before the satellite was handed over to the Japanese partner, it was tested for the last time by JAXA on August 16-17 to ensure safety for the upcoming launch.

According to JAXA, the NanoDragon satellite will be launched into orbit before March 2022 under the program "Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration 2".

Under this program, nine satellites will be launched along with Vietnam's satellite, including the major satellite weighing about 100kg, 4 micro-class satellites and 4 cubesat class satellites.

Specifically, the major satellite is JAXA’s RAISE-2 satellite. The four micro-class satellites are HIBARI (55 kg) from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Z-Sat (46kg) from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., DRUMS (62kg) from Kawasaki Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., and TeikyoSat-4 (52kg) from Teikyo University.

The three Cubesat-class satellites include ASTERISC (4kg) from Chiba Institute of Technology, ARICA (1kg) from Aoyama Gakuin University and KOSEN-1 (3kg) from Kochi National College.

These satellites will be launched by Japan's No. 5 Epsilon rocket.

NanoDragon is a cubesat satellite, weighing about 4 kg.

NanoDragon is a cubesat satellite, weighing about 4 kg and the 3U size (100 x 100 x 340.5 mm).

The NanoDragon satellite is the product of the Project "Research, design, manufacture, launch and test operation of nano-sized microsatellites" under the "National science and technology program on space technology in 2016-2020”. The whole process of researching, designing, integrating and testing satellite functions was completely conducted in Vietnam by staff of the Vietnam Space Center.

NanoDragon is expected to operate in a solar synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 560 km. The satellite was developed for the purpose of demonstrating that it is possible to use micro-satellite beam technology to receive automatic identification system (AIS) used for tracking and monitoring vehicles at sea.

After completing the manufacturing, integration and functional testing process in Vietnam, from March 9 to April 9, 2021, the pre-launch environment test was performed at the Test Center for Small Satellites of the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan.

A ground station to operate the satellite after launch was installed at the Vietnam Space Center in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, Hanoi.

Source: VNA

Trong Dat

Vietnam's NanoDragon microsatellite to be launched in Japan

Vietnam has sent NanoDragon satellite to Japan to hand over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to launch into space.