VietNamNet Bridge – The launch of the Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment and Disaster Monitoring Small Satellite (VNREDSat-1) will be delayed until late April.

Dr. Bui TrongTuyen, Vice Director of the Space Technology Institute under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, made the announcement on April 11.

The satellite was scheduled to go into orbit between April 18-20.

The main contractor for the satellite is French partner, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) Astrium. It has undergone several tests and has been certified to meet the necessary conditions for launch. It was safely transferred to a launch pad in Kourou, Guyana on March 8.

According to the latest report from Astrium and ArianeSpace, they will carry out further tests ahead of the plannedlaunch on April 24.

VNREDSat-1 is Vietnam’s optical earth-observation satellite and has been funded by 55.8 million euro from French official development assistance (ODA) and VND64 billion from Vietnam.

Once completed, it will capture images on all areas on the earth’s surface, helping to monitor natural disasters and climate change, especially in the event of storms, floods, forest fires and oil spills.

In addition, it will provide high resolution images for managing forest resources and farming areas, adjusting terrain maps, developing geological maps for exploiting mineral resources and serving offshore fishing.

Currently, Vietnam has set up three centres to manage, receive and handle the satellite images. Local technicians to operate and manage the satellite have been trained in France.

Source: VOV