Remote satellite programme reviewed after successful year
The
satellite was launched into orbit on May 7, 2013, from the Kourou launch
pad in Guiana, France, under the management of Astrium SAS, an
affiliate of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.
Since then, it has come into stable operation, taking more than 20,700 images, of which 6,071 feature Vietnamese land.
At a May 5 conference to review the one-year operation of the
satellite, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen
Thai Lai said VNREDSat-1 serves as an effective monitoring tool helping
the country manage environmental resources and defend national
sovereignty.
It has also contributed to claiming
Vietnam’s sovereignty over not only its land, sea and islands but also
its airspace, he added.
The VNREDSat-1 project
has had a total investment of 55.8 million EUR sourced by the French
government's Official Development Assistance and the Vietnamese side's
contribution of nearly 65 billion VND (2.2 million EUR).
The satellite is said to be capable of capturing images of all areas
in the world and expected to assist with efforts to deal with flooding,
forest fires, oil overflows and other incidents quickly and
effectively.-VNA