France Helps Vietnam with Satellite Project
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has given approval to selection of France as the supplier of technology and official development aid (ODA) for the VNREDSat-1 satellite project.
The Minister of Planning and Investment will oversee the use of the ODA.
The prime minister has assigned the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology to carry out and ensure effectiveness of the project, part of Vietnam’s strategy for the application of space technology and research to 2020.
The satellite is scheduled to be operational in 2012 and will be used to help Vietnam map its natural resources and provide information about the environment and disasters.
The National Space Science and Technology Research Program’s chairman Nguyen Khoa Son said the project would cost an estimated US$100 million and help free Vietnam from reliance on satellite images provided by other countries.
Vietnam launched its first satellite last April. (Labor, Pioneer)
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