Hanoi (VNA) –🌠 Vietnam’s space industry has gained significant development inthe 10 years since the launch of its first satellite Vinasat-1 (April 18, 2008).

In 2006, then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai approvedthe strategy for Research and Application on Space Technology for Vietnam’ssocio-economic development. Almost two years later, Vietnam Post andTelecommunications Group signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin of the US onthe creation of the Vinasat-1 satellite. The launch of Vinasat-1in 2008 marked a milestone of the country’s space industry. Alongwith economic benefits, it affirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty in space and itsposition by becoming the world’s 93rd country and the sixth nation in SoutheastAsia to have its own satellite. Vietnam launched the Vinasat-2 satellite in2012, and the remote-sensing VN Redsat-1 and micro satellite “PicoDragon”,which was made in Vietnam with the support of Japan, in 2013.  A bigger satellite, “Micro Dragon” is expectedto go into space in 2018 while another satellite project called “Nano Dragon” isbeing carried out in 2017-2019. MicroDragon aims to observe coastal areas ofVietnam to evaluate water quality, marine food resources and follow up onchanges in coastal areas to inform the fish breeding sector.  Under the satellite development roadmap,Vietnam will also launch the LOTUSat-1 and LOTUSat-2 satellites, which weredesigned by Japanese experts and will be assembled and piloted by Vietnameseengineers, by 2019 and 2020, respectively. These are expected to provide datato improve the efficiency of natural resource management and mitigating damagecaused by natural disasters. The country has paid heed to building andupgrading the infrastructure for the space industry. The Hanoi-based VietnamSpace Centre under the Vietnam National Satellite Centre (VNSC) is asignificant project which will be responsible for research and management ofsmall satellites observing the Earth and Vietnam. The construction of a space museum at the HoaLac Hi-tech Industrial Park is almost ready for operation this year. The VNSC hasalso completed the building of an astronomical observatory Nha Trang, centralKhanh Hoa province.

Regarding personnel, since September 2013, theVNSC has sent 36 engineers to universities in Japan to learn about satellitetechnologies, while signing educational deals on space science with threeVietnamese universities, including the Hanoi’s University of Science andTechnology, University of Engineering and Technology under the Vietnam NationalUniversity - Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh International University.

𝓡 Vietnam has boosted cooperation with many aeronauticalagencies, namely the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA of the US andaeronautical institutes of France and Russia.-VNA