VietNamNet Bridge - After three months of taking over the control of VNREDSat -1 satellite from the French partner, Vietnam can fully master this Earth observing system.

According to the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), the VNREDSat -1 is capable of taking high resolution photos of any location on the Earth's surface.

 The total number of photos that the satellite captured, processed and stored is 18,427 with dimensions of 17.5 kmx17.5km, including 9,817 multi-spectral pictures and 8,610 panchromatic pictures.

The satellite also took and processed 4,003 photos of the territory and territorial waters of Vietnam, including 2,018 multispectral and 1,985 panchromatic photos.

Every three days, the system provides a collection of photos of Vietnam’s territory and territorial waters. The photos are handed over to the user groups.

VNREDSat-1 is the earth observation optical satellite, which is able to capture all the regions of the Earth's surface.

VNREDSat-1 is the first earth observation satellite of Vietnam. The satellite is capable of taking photos of the entire regions on the earth's surface.

VNREDSat-1 was designed and manufactured by EADS Astrium of France. It was launched on May 7 from the Kourou launch site, in French Guyana.

It is Vietnam’s third satellite in space and its first Earth observation satellite.

After only two days in orbit, VNREDSat -1 sent to the ground station some photos of the countries in the world.

After more than three months of trial operation, the satellite is operating stably. VNREDSat -1 weighs about 120kg, with a total investment of $70 million in aid from France and reciprocal capital of Vietnam.

On September 4, France officially handed over the satellite to Vietnam.

So far, Vietnam has had four satellites. Vinasat-1 is the first geostationary communications satellite of Vietnam. It was launched into orbit in 2008 from the Kourou launch site, in Guyana of France. The Vinasat-1 satellite project was launched in 1998 with a total investment of more than $ 300 million. Vinasat-1 is 4 m tall, weighs 2,600 kg, and it has a life expectancy of 15-20 years.

Vinasat-2 is also a geostationary communications satellite. It was launched into space on May 16 last year, also at Kourou launch site in Guyana by Ariane5 ECA rocket. Vinasat-2 has a total budget of about $260-280 million, invested by the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT). Like Vinasat-1, the project partner of Vinasat-2 was Lockheed Martin group (USA), with the provision of satellite, control station equipment and launch services.

The F-1 small satellite is designed and manufactured by the FSpace Space Research Laboratory of the FPT University. F-1 was launched into space in July last year from HTV-3 spacecraft in Japan. The FPT satellite is in the shape of a cube and weighs 1 kg. F-1 satellite project was kicked off by the FSpace in late 2008. However, since it was launched last year, the satellite has not signals yet.

The photographs taken by the VNREDSat-1:

Na Son