The launch of Vietnam satellite delayed by weather TUOI TRE   VNREDSat-1, the first remote sensing satellite of Vietnam Small Satellite Project Management Board The launch of the Vietnam’s satellite for earth observation on Vega lightweight rocket was put off until an unspecified date due to bad weather conditions at the Guyana Space Center in Kourou, France, said the European Space Agency (ESA). Previously planned on 02:06 GMT, Saturday, the mission was postponed by the space firm Arianespace and another launch date will be decided depending on the evolution of the weather conditions in Kourou, ESA said in a statement. The 115kg VNREDSat-1 of Vietnam is one of the three ‘passengers’ on the space vehicle, with the two others include a 140kg Proba-V satellite of ESA to map vegetation cover and a 1.3kg Estonian microsatellite, ESTCube-1, to test an electric solar sail. The US$76 million VNREDSat-1 was designed as a climate-monitoring tool for Vietnam's academy of science and technologies. With the size of 600 mm x 570 mm x 500 mm, it is to orbit at an altitude of nearly 670 km. According to Bui Trong Tuyen, deputy dead of the Vietnam Institute of Space Technology, Vietnam has plans to exploit the satellite to its full capacity during its life span of five years. Its economic value is to give Vietnam the active chance in time and areas around the earth to take images and so become less dependent on the only source of supply from foreign nations. The high-resolution images taken by VNREDSat-1 will meet the demands of research and management agencies for social and economic development purposes, natural resources management, environmental protection, and natural disaster detection and control. It is expected that the satellite can provide 100 images a day on average, at the size of 20cm x 20cm on different areas around the globe.