JAXA: Made-in-Vietnam satellite to be launched on November 7

According to an official announcement of the JAXA on November 4, its Epsilon-5 rocket, which will carry Vietnam’s NanoDragon satellite and eight other made-in-Japan satellites, will be launched into the outer space from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture at between 9:48-9:59 am (local time).

Previously, the JAXA had to stop launching Epsilon-5 twice. On October 1, about a minute before launching the rocket, JAXA stopped the process to check the machinery system. In another attempt to launch the rocket on October 7, the agency had to cancel its plan because of unfavorable weather.

The NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite which weighs 3.8 kilograms, was developed by the Vietnam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. The development of NanoDragon satellite is part of VNSC's "made in Vietnam" small satellite development roadmap.

Earlier, it was delivered to Japan on August 11 and tested at the Uchinoura Space Centre from August 16-17 before being officially transferred to the JAXA for launching under the second "Innovative satellite technology demonstration" programme.