Micro Dragon to be launched in Japan tomorrow

The Viet Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology reported that at 7:50 (local time) on January 18 MicroDragon, a made-in-Viet Nam earth observation satellite, will be launched into orbit by Epsilon rocket in Japan. 

After being launched into space, the Micro Dragon satellite will be separated from the rocket and remain in the orbit. The first signals from the satellite are expected to be received in one or two days. It is expected that after a trial period of one-three months in space, Micro Dragon’s operation will become stable. 

Micro Dragon satellite can locate aquatic resources, provide information about animals, zooplankton living in the sea, observe and provide information on species of fish and their size to the domestic aquaculture industry. 

Micro Dragon is equipped with two multi-spectral cameras with adjustable liquid crystal filters, capturing in 12 spectral bands (from 412-1,020 nm), able to put out the best resolution of ground image 36x48 km resolution when the satellite operates at orbit of 500 km.

Micro Dragon was developed by 36 Vietnamese engineers from the VNSC, who were sent to study space technology in Japan’s top five universities, namely the University of Tokyo, Keio University, Hokkaido University, Tohoku University and Kyushu Institute of Technology.  

Earlier, in 2013, VNSC engineers successfully made a satellite named PicoDragon (10x10x11.35 centimeters, 1 kg), which was launched into orbit./.

By Kim Anh