A satellite imagery receiving station was inaugurated in Hanoi on July 9 with the assistance from the French government.

The facility, the first of its kind in Asia , is part of the natural resources and environment monitoring system funded with more than 19.37 million EUR in official development assistance by the French government, which was carried out starting in 2005.

Installed with advanced equipment from the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), the station can receive and process satellite images and data from France ’s Spot 2,4 and Spot 5 and the European Space Agency's ENVISAT satellites.

Thanks to the station, Vietnam will be able to monitor its land, forests, sea and water and mineral resources, as well as pollution and flooding.

To date, the station has received and processed more than 150,000 images./.