The earth observation satellite was launched by a Vega lightweight rocket at 9:06 am.

It is expected that 1 hour, 57 minutes and 24 seconds after taking off, the satellite will activate its propulsion engine to make its way to sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of nearly 670 km.

The VNRED Sat-1 was  launched with two other space vehicles, including a 140kg Proba-V satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) to map vegetation cover, and a 1.3kg Estonian microsatellite, ESTCube-1, to test an electric solar sail.

During its operation, VNRED Sat-1 will provide high-resolution satellite images that will serve social and economic development purposes, natural resources management, environmental protection, and natural disaster detection and control.

The satellite, which measures 600 mm x 570 mm x 500 mm and weighs 115 kg, was built at a total cost of €55.8 million from the French Government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund and VND65 billion (around $3.2 million) from the Vietnamese Government.

It is expected that the satellite will provide 100 images a day on average.

This is very important for Vietnam, since the country currrently has to buy satellite images from foreign countries at high prices and has to wait for 1-2 months to receive such images.

In 2008 and 2012, Vietnam launched two telecommunication satellites, Vinasat 1 and Vinasat 2, both of which are operating on a geostationary orbit at an altitude of about 35,800 km.

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