Vietnamese scientists successfully restore expired satellite

VNREDSat-1, Vietnam’s first remote sensing satellite (Photo: Space Technology Institute)

VNREDSat-1 is a proactive monitoring tool serving the management of natural resources and the environment, scientific research, and training as well as supporting the implementation of socio-economic sustainable development and national sovereignty safeguarding tasks.

Satellites of the same type have an average lifespan of five years, but VNREDSat-1 were used for nearly 9 years (from May 7, 2013 to November 9, 2021). During that time, it fulfilled its role as the first earth observation satellite system of Vietnam by successfully providing a valuable source of satellite images for the country.

On November 9, 2021, the VNREDSat-1 system encountered a serious technical error related to the hardware that stores operational and control data.

The successful restoration of the system has marked a development step, bringing valuable experience to the engineers operating it and helping save a large amount of money and significantly shorten the time the satellite is not in orbit.

Since its re-operation on April 4, the satellite has taken 280 photos, with over 80 high-quality ones.

Experts and customers all assess that the photos taken by VNREDSat-1 still ensure quality and efficiency to serve applications on socio-economic development and ensuring defence security./.

VNA