Focus on Vietnam

The annual gathering of the International Astronautical Federation always presents an opportunity for the smaller nations to describe the efforts they are making to develop and utilize space technologies. Over the last few years, there has been an increased emphasis on encouraging the participation of young people in the conference.

In IAC 2009 in Daejeon, South Korea, there were 700 youth in attendance. And indeed, many of the countries that are catching up in the new “space race,” are putting much of their effort into the younger generation.Perhaps no country has had a more difficult situation to overcome than Vietnam. In an almost continual state of war, from World War II until 1975, Vietnam has not had much time, nor resources, to devote to space science.

Nevertheless, it is now taking its first steps to develop a space capability.

At IAC 2009, a presentation was made by Tanh Tuong Nguyen, a teacher of Astronomy and Space Science at the Le Hong Phong High School for the Highly Gifted in Ho Chi Minh City. He noted that although Vietnam does not have a very long tradition of space science, it does have an astronomical tradition which has its roots in the rural economy of the country, and which goes back centuries.

Vietnam, like many Asian countries, utilized the Chinese lunar calendar. This calendar served very practical purposes. The most important product in their agricultural economy was rice, which demands a great deal of water. Therefore, the rise and fall of the water level in the rivers was of utmost importance for the Vietnamese farmer. This rise in turn was dependent on the phases of the Moon. This form of rural astronomy that existed in the country for centuries, and was widely diffused among the peasantry.

In 2000, astronomy was introduced as a course at the Le Hong Phong High School, initially taught only to those who were planning to major in physics, but later, opened to non-physics majors. The course has received assistance from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Building upon its renewed emphasis upon astronomy, Vietnam has been been at the same time moving into astronautics. Undoubtedly, progress toward the development of a real Vietnamese space programme will be accelerated within a short period of time. The work of regional agencies, like the Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, which is working with Vietnam in the STAR (Satellite Technology for the Asia-Pacific Region) programme, is helping to boost the entry of Vietnam into space.

The Vietnam Space Technology Institute, which was established in 2006, is working with NASA and the Mexican National University, which are assisting the Institute in a small satellite programme.

The institute's functions include researching into designing and assembling small satellites, applying space technologies in life, and constructing space facilities, including laboratories and earth stations.

The infant space programme is also receiving assistance from some of the Vietnamese nationals who have made a name for themselves abroad, in the fields of astronomy and aerospace. These include several Vietnamese astronomers, such as Dr Nguyen Xuan Vinh, who does work for NASA from his post at the University of Michigan; Dr. Nguyen Quang Rieu, who works at the National Observatory of France; and Dr Trinh Xuan Thuan, a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia.

Between 2006 and 2010, Vietnam intensified its application of space technology in four main spheres:

• communications
• hydrometeorology
• natural resource and environment
• satellite-based positioning.

The Vietnamese government set up a national strategy on research and application of space technology in which Vietnam would master technologies and techniques regarding production of small satellites, launching equipment, and earth stations in the 2011-2020 period.

The country aimed before that to have space technology should be widely applied in the fields like posts and telecommunications, radio and television, meteorology, agriculture and transport.

In May 2006, U.S. firm Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems won a bid to build and launch Vietnam's first communication satellite.

These culminated in the launch of Vietnam's first medium-sized communications satellite Vinasat in 2008 which covers Vietnam along with the rest of south and east Asia.

This article is based upon an extract from Vietnam Looks To the Stars by William Jones from the 22 January 2010 edition of the Executive Intelligence Review.