PicoDragon is a small satellite that followed the 1U type of

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

program built by the Vietnam National Satellite Center (VNSC) which belongs to VAST and operated in space for 3 months. It was the first product to be built in Vietnam in the space technology field. The target for this project is to co-operate in space technology development between

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and Japan. It is also the first Vietnamese satellite to launch successfully to space. Before the launch of PicoDragon, there had been 4 satellites launched into orbit: VNREDSat 1A, F-1,

Vinasat-1 Vinasat-1 (stylized all uppercase) is a satellite launched by Vietnam, marking a significant achievement for the nation. The launch took place on April 18, 2008, at 22:17 GMT, using an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, Fre ...

and Vinasat-2 although F-1 failed upon its launch.

, Vinasat-2, VNREDSat 1A were all built by foreign partners or companies.

Specifications

*Size: * Weight: * Time operating: About 3 months * Orbit ** High: ** Inclination: 51.6 degrees * Senses devices: ** CMOS camera (640 × 480 dpi) to take picture about Earth * Contact by wireless link ** Broadcast station frequency about 437.250 MHz ** Telemetry downlink 1k2 bit/s AFSK 800 mW AX.25 about 437.365 MHz ** Very high frequency uplink use for control.

Journey

At 2:48 AM ( UTC+07:00), 4 August 2013, PicoDragon was successfully launched to the ISS via the transport spacecraft HTV-4, followed by ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X, TechEdSat-3 of United States and

Kirobo Kirobo is Japan's first robot astronaut, developed by University of Tokyo and Tomotaka Takahashi, to accompany Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Kirobo arrived on the ISS on August 10, 2013, on JAXA ...

robot of Japan, all of which were launched at

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airp ...

by Kounotori of Japan. Before its placement into orbit from the ISS, it was held back for additional checks. PicoDragon was a 1U CubeSat project designed for low resolution Earth imagery and to test on-board systems. On 19 November 2013 (Vietnamese time), PicoDragon was launched into orbit by the ISS. 4 hours after the launch, the first signals of PicoDragon were successfully received by the ground station in Japan. After that, VNSC's ground station also received signals from PicoDragon. After more than 3 months in orbit, PicoDragon - Vietnam's first microsatellite completed the mission and burned upon atmospheric entry back to Earth.

Future

PicoDragon's mission has been deemed sufficient, and in its 3-month orbit, it transmitted an advertising signal "PicoDragon Vietnam" (PicoDragon Việt Nam) to ground-based radio stations. According to professor Pham Anh Tuan, director of VNSC, after PicoDragon, Vietnam will build more satellites with larger sizes ( in 2015 and in 2017) and will launch a satellite to observe the Earth from space in 2020.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2013 2013 in Vietnam CubeSats Secondary payloads Spacecraft launched in 2013 Satellites deployed from the International Space Station Satellites of Vietnam