Commercial space transportation company Arianespace and EADS aerospace subsidiary Astrium have just inked a deal with Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology to launch the VNREDSat-1A Earth observation satellite.
France-based Arianespace will be launching VNREDSat-1A in the second quarter of 2013 using the company’s second Vega launcher, Verta 1, from the Guiana Space Center for the European Space Agency (ESA). VNREDSat-1A will then be infused into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
The agreement to launch VNREDSat-1A represents the first contract of Arianespace for this year. The 120-kg Astrium-built observation satellite aims to provide Vietnam with a complete satellite system and ground receiving facilities.
Chairman and CEO of Arianespace Jean-Yves Le Gall said in a statement, “We are especially proud of once again being able to work with Vietnam, following the successful launches of Vinasat-1 and -2 communications satellites. With this contract, the fourth we signed for Vega, Arianespace clearly shows that it can offer customers a launch service perfectly adapted to this type of mission.”
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