VEGA Consults on Vietnamese Earth Observation Satellite

9 December 2010 – VEGA, a Finmeccanica company, has been awarded a contract to provide supervisory consultancy for the procurement of one of Vietnam’s Earth observation satellites, namely Vietnam Natural Resource, Environment and Disaster Satellite (VNREDSat-1).

VEGA’s role is to provide support to the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) in procuring the satellite from Astrium France. The contract includes providing support during all phases of the procurement of the spacecraft including: the design, manufacturing and testing, the development and installation of the control ground station and the image processing facility. Once launched, VEGA will also be involved in supporting the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP), in-orbit testing, and the satellite hand-over from Astrium to VAST.

The contract was awarded by VAST, as the Vietnamese national institution responsible for setting up Vietnam’s Earth observation Space programme with its corresponding ground systems. VNREDSat-1 is a Vietnamese government initiative to create a Space infrastructure to help them better monitor and study the effects of climate change, predict and take measures to prevent natural disasters, and optimise the management of its natural resources. It will also allow the country to strengthen its knowledge in the field of Space engineering and benefit from the ensuing technology transfer and economic growth.

Peter Young, VEGA’s Director for Space, said: “Vietnam is an emerging Space market and we are delighted to be part of one of their first Earth observation programmes. VEGA has worked in all aspects of Earth observation programmes over the past 32 years and can bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge to help VAST achieve a successful programme. We look forward to working with VAST over the next three years during this contract, and hopefully for future programmes too.”

Further information
For further information, please contact Karen Rogers on karen.rogers@vega.co.uk.