Vietnam’s Coast Observation Satellite Goes into Orbit from Japan
19 Januari 2019 MicroDragon satellite (photos : VNSC) Vietnamese satellite MicroDragon was successfully launched from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan Friday morning. The satellite, built by a team of Vietnamese engineers with help from Japanese experts and launched aboard Japan’s Epsilon 4 launcher, will be used to observe Vietnam’s coast line. MicroDragon measures 50x50x50 centimeters (19.6 inches) and weighs around 50 kilograms (110 pounds). It will help evaluate water quality, locate fisheries resources and monitor changes to serve aquaculture. It will also detect cloud coverage and aerosols, collect ground-based sensor signals and transmit them to stations on Earth. In 2013 the Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) sent 36 engineers to five top universities in Japan for master’s programs in satellite technology as part of a joint Vietnam-Japan project to prevent natural disasters and climate change using satellites. Using official development ass...