The station, located in Minh Khai commune of Hanoi’s outlying Tu Liem district, was built at a cost of US$27.9 million in the form of official development assistance from France. It has been installed with the most advanced technology of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.

The station can receive, process and set categories and stoe data sent via satellite. Its images can be used in current land inventory assessments, forest observation and inventory, national geographic data updates, sea and island mapping, and pollution and flood observation.

This is the first station in Asia capable of receiving ENVISAT (Environmental Satellite) images. It has so far received and processed around 150,000 images.