Vietnamese scientists hope to build and launch domestically produced satellites within the next two years.
VietnamNet reports that Pham Anh Tuan, general director of the Hanoi-based Vietnam Space Center, shared at a ceremony at the new Nha Trang Observatory that the country will launch satellites that are designed and built in the country in the near future.
Vietnam currently needs two types of satellites: geostationary telecommunication satellites and remote sensing satellites used for weather forecasts and environmental monitoring.
Thus far the only satellite the country has produced is the Pico Dragon, a tiny piece of equipment which weighed just one kilogram and was launched into space on a Japanese rocket.
With Japanese assistance, the Vietnam Space Center will build the 50-kilogram MicroDragon to monitor coastal areas for water quality, fisheries and changes in sea temperatures, the news source shares.
The more ambitious plan is to produce the LOTUSat-1 and LOTUSat-2 satellites, which will use advanced radar equipment to take images of Vietnam from space. The LOTUSat-1 will weigh 600 kilograms and could be ready for launch within two years.
The LOTUSat-2, meanwhile, won't be ready for up to eight years. Each of these projects will take place under the guidance of Japanese experts, VietnamNet adds.
[Photo via VietnamNet]
