LOTUSat-1 satellite will help predict severe weather and survey the resulting damage. (Photo: vietnamnet.vn)Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnam National Space Centre under the Vietnam Academyof Science and Technology and Japan's NEC and Sumitomo Corp have signed acontract to develop LOTUSat-1 satellite that will help predict severeweather and survey the resulting damage.
NEC willdesign, manufacture and train Vietnamese staff at a satellite making establishmentin Japan, then transfer the technology to Vietnam.
Thesatellite order is estimated at more than 20 billion yen (184 million USD).Most of the funding will be provided by the Japan International CooperationAgency.
TheLOTUSat-1 satellite, which weighs roughly 570kg, containscontrol systems and other core components that can be mass-produced. Thesatellite will be able to detect objects with widths of a metre wide on earth.It will gather information expected to help minimise the impacts of naturaldisasters such as storms that hit Vietnam every year.
It isexpected LOTUSat-1, which is smaller than other satellites withcomparable capabilities and comes in at about a fifth of the price,will be launched as soon as 2023.
Vietnamplans to launch a second satellite, the contract for which NEC and tradinghouse Sumitomo will also pursue./.
VNA
