NanoDragon satellite in a cleanroom of the Việt Nam National Space Centre. — Photo courtesy of the Việt Nam National Space Centre

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s NanoDragon satellite was delivered to Japan on August 11 ahead of its planned launch into space, according to the Việt Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology. 

The centre said the satellite would be transferred to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). 

The NanoDragon satellite (NDG), a nano-layer CubeSat satellite which weighs 3.8kg, was developed by the VNSC. It is expected to be launched into orbit from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture in the fiscal year 2021 (to March 2022) of Japan.

The satellite is the product of a project to design, manufacture, launch and test operation of a nano-sized microsatellite under the national space science and technology programme in the 2016-2020 period.

The process of researching, designing, integrating, and testing the satellite's functions was carried out completely in Việt Nam by VNSC researchers. 

The satellite was developed with the purpose of demonstrating it could use micro-satellite beam technology to receive the Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal to track and monitor activities at sea.

The centre said after the manufacturing, integration and functional testing were conducted in Việt Nam between March 9-April 9, the satellite has passed pre-launch environmental testing at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan.

Along with the satellite development process, a ground station to operate the satellite after its launch has been installed and is ready for operation at the VNSC in the Hoà Lạc Hi-Tech Park in Hà Nội.

Previously, the VNSC also successfully developed the 1kg microsatellite PicoDragon, and the 50-kg satellite MicroDragon, which were launched into orbit in 2013 and 2019, respectively. — VNS