VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam successfully adjusted its VNREDSat-1 satellite in an emergency case in order to avoid a possible collision with a cosmic object.

Ngo Duy Tan, deputy director of the Small Satellite Operation and Exploitation Center, has confirmed that the satellite was saved from a possible accident as the center successfully adjusted its orbit.

According to Tan, JSpOC (Joint Space Operations Center), the US command and control weapon system sent information that a possible collision would occur at 8.26 pm Hanoi time on August 15 with the probability rate of 0.279 percent. The center also said that the object which the satellite might collide with was moving at a speed of 14,000 meter per second.

Tan then decided to make and urgent orbit adjustment.

This was a rarely seen phenomenon with the frequency of once a year at maximum. However, if Vietnam had not made any intervention, the object, which was believed to have the assault strength of a cannon shell, would have destroyed the satellite.

In principle, it is necessary to make adjustments if the clash probability is 3/1000. In the case of VNREDSat-1, the adjustment was a must.

The leaders of the center believed that it was necessary to implement the operation as a step forward to master high technologies.

According to the statement released on August 20 by the Vietnam Science and Technology Academy, at 7:00 pm on August 15, the operations to adjust the orbit of VNREDSat-1 were implemented. At 9:00 pm on the same day, the data transmitted from the satellite showed that the adjustment was successful.

The satellite has had normal operation since then, taking pictures of the earth and transmitting to the center as planned.

The successful adjustment has been praised as a great achievement of Vietnam cosmologists. This is the most complicated satellite operation Vietnam has ever implemented.

“I can say for sure that Vietnam now can master the satellite because it can respond in emergency cases,” Tan said. “Nothing can be worse than this case. But we were able to settle the problem well.”

When asked about the performance of VNREDSat-1, Dr. Bui Trong Tuyen, head of the Small Satellite Project Management Board, said it had been operating at the highest possible efficiency.

“It can satisfy Vietnam’s regular and specific requirements,” he said.

VNREDSat-1 is an Earth observation optical satellite able to capture images of the entire surface area of the earth. It has the dimensions of 600 mm x 570 mm x 500 mm. The designed life-span of the satellite is five years.

The satellite was launched into orbit in May 2013. Two days after the launch, Vietnam’s remote sensing station received the first pictures transmitted from the satellite.

Three months after the launch, the satellite was officially handed over to Vietnam for management. Since then, the system has been managed and operated by Vietnamese engineers and technicians.

Dat Viet