First domestically-made radar satellite to be launched in 2025

A model of Vietnamese radar satellite LOTUSat-1. — Photo courtesy of Vietnam National Space Centre

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will launch the first “Made in Việt Nam” radar satellite into orbit in early 2025, according to the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology.

The LOTUSat-1 is expected to be completed in May and scheduled to go into space between December 2024 and February 2025, said Lê Xuân Huy, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Space Centre.

It is expected to operate for five years.

The LOTUSat-1 satellite, which weighs roughly 570kg, will be able to detect objects with widths of a metre wide on earth. It will gather information expected to help minimise the impacts of natural disasters, such as the storms that hit Việt Nam every year.

The ground control system for the launch will be completed by September this year at Hà Nội’s Hòa Lạc Hi-tech Park.

Fabrication of the satellite, which uses Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) and Viêt Nam’s own capital, began in 2019 at the Vietnam National Space Centre.

The centre is organising technology transfer classes on radar satellite image processing to prepare for technological readiness and human resources in sectors and units.

The goal is to efficiently exploit the data obtained when the satellite is launched into orbit, Huy said.

Another efficiently operating satellite in Việt Nam’s orbit is VNREDSat-1, the first optical Earth observation satellite, capable of taking pictures of all areas on the earth’s surface.

The VNREDSat-1, weighing 120kg, was successfully launched into orbit on May 7, 2013.

It has been operating in orbit for twice the initially designed duration, continuing to operate safely and efficiently. It provides valuable satellite imagery to meet the needs of national security, economic and social development, as well as research and training.

In February 2021, the Government approved the strategy for the development and application of space science and technology until 2030, paving the way for the advancement of space science and technology in the new era.

The overall goal of the strategy is to widely apply the achievements of space science and technology, striving to master the technology of designing, manufacturing and integrating optical and radar sensors for Earth observation satellites. It aims to develop the market, support startups, and gradually form Việt Nam’s space industry. — VNS