The solid-fuel Epsilon 5 rocket at the launch pad on October 1. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The planned launch of a satellite made entirely by Vietnamese engineers has been suspended for a second time.

On Thursday morning, the NanoDragon satellite was scheduled to launch onboard the Epsilon rocket in Japan. 

But the lift-off was postponed due to strong winds at the Uchinoura Space Centre in the Kagoshima prefecture.

The earlier launch, on October 1, was halted due to a glitch that occurred in ground radar equipment that monitors the rocket's position and speed, located near the launching pad.

This might have caused a problem in tracking the rocket.

The NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite that weighs 3.8 kilogrammes, was developed by the Việt Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology.

The satellite was delivered to Japan and tested at the Space Centre in August before being officially transferred to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

No date for the next planned launch has been announced. — VNS