VINASAT-1 satellite ready to go into orbit
The satellite body production has finished and was transported to the space port for the launching in the spaceport in French Guiana, in northeast South America to the 132E orbit.
A Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) source said local hands were rushing to approve costs for the VNPT Group operator to start providing satellite services in May.
"We had a deadline for submitting motions this week and then the final meeting will be conducted to approve [the project]," said the official. The technical design and costs cover the construction of the satellite body and two earth stations in Que Duong in northern Ha Tay and southern Binh Duong provinces.
VNPT Group recently approved satellite service quotes for its affiliate Vietnam Telecom International to promote marketing services.
"We have received a lot interest from future satellite service customers," said a Vietnam Telecom International source. The second and forth largest state-owned commercial banks in terms of total assets, Vietcombank and Vietinbank, signed a credit sponsor agreement last year with VNPT to provide a $146.1 million loan for the country’s first satellite.
The loan, plus the Ministry of Finance guarantee, is equal to 60 per cent of the project’s $243.6 million in total investment capital. Of these, Vietinbank is the main sponsor to arrange an $86.1 million loan, accounting for 59 percent of lending. The 12-year maturity loan includes a two-year grace period.
Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems was awarded a contract to Integral Systems to provide primary and backup satellite-control systems. The systems combines elements of Integral’s Epoch Integrated Product Suite to provide a complete command and control system plus automated scheduling, procedure execution, offline trending and analysis and flight dynamics functions.
The main contractor also has subcontracted SES Astra Techcom to deliver two satellite antenna systems in Vietnam for telecommand, telemetry and control and training courses to Vietnamese satellite operator’s personnel.
The satellite is planned for launch in the 132E orbit from a spaceport in French Guiana, in northeast South America.