Vietnam’s Earth observation satellite VNREDSat-1 resumes normal operations

On Wednesday, VNREDSat-1 successfully captured and transmitted images to a ground station in Vietnam, confirming the full restoration of the system's functionality following a series of control system faults, according to Dr. Ngo Duy Tan, vice director general of the VNSC.

VNREDSat-1 was launched into orbit on May 7, 2013, making Vietnam one of the first 25 countries to operate an Earth observation satellite at that time.

The satellite's mission is to provide high-resolution imagery to support the management and monitoring of natural resources, environmental protection, and disaster prevention efforts.

Although originally designed for a five-year operational lifespan, VNREDSat-1 has functioned for over a decade.

In late 2021, VNREDSat-1 encountered a critical hardware malfunction affecting its operational and control data storage systems.

This issue exceeded the satellite's self-recovery capabilities, leading to a suspension of its functionality from November 9, 2021 to March 25, 2022.

Local engineers collaborated with other experts to fully restore the system's control servers so that it could resume image capturing in late March 2022.

Subsequently, at the end of 2023, the satellite experienced another control system failure. Specialists and staff from the aforementioned center continued their technical interventions to rectify the issues.

Preliminary assessments by the center indicate that VNREDSat-1 is currently in good condition and should be able to continue providing imagery for an additional one to two years.

At the 10th anniversary of the VNREDSat-1 launch in May 2023, Dr. Bui Trong Tuyen, director of the Institute of Space Technology, stated that the satellite had provided nearly 160,000 images of Vietnam's territories, territorial waters, and other regions worldwide.

VNREDSat-1, a remote sensing satellite, was designed and manufactured in Toulouse by EADS Astrium, which later became part of France's Airbus Group.

The satellite, which measures 600 mm x 570 mm x 500 mm and weights 115 kg, was created at a total cost of €55.8 million (approximately US$63 million) from the French government’s official development assistance (ODA) fund and VND65 billion (around US$2.5 million) from the Vietnamese government.