Vietnam’s NanoDragon satellite yet to enter orbit as scheduled
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has cancelled the launch of its Epsilon 5 rocket, expected to carry Vietnam’s NanoDragon satellite and eight others into the outer space, on October 1, possibly due to technical problems.
Japan's Epsilon 5 rocket and its nine satellites, including Vietnam's NanoDragon (Photo: JAXA/VNA)
Tokyo (VNA) – The Japan Aerospace ExplorationAgency (JAXA) has cancelled the launch of its Epsilon 5 rocket, expected to carryVietnam’s NanoDragon satellite and eight others into the outer space, onOctober 1, possibly due to technical problems.
JAXA said it would announce the cause of the cancellationand a new launch schedule later.
Watching the launch online, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Pham Anh Tuan,General Director of the Vietnam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the VietnamAcademy of Science and Technology, said about a minute before launching therocket, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stopped the process tocheck the machinery system.
After checking, it decided to suspend the launch on October1, he said.
The NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite which weighs3.8 kilograms, was developed by the VNSC.
Earlier, the satellite was delivered to Japan on August 11and tested at the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture from August16-17 before being officially transferred to the JAXA for launching under thesecond "Innovative satellite technology demonstration" programme.
The Epsilon 5 was expected to launch NanoDragon along witheight other made-in-Japan satellites from Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima./.
NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite developed by the Vietnam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, is scheduled to be launched into orbit from Japan on October 1.
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Japan's Epsilon 5 rocket and its nine satellites, including Vietnam's NanoDragon (Photo: JAXA/VNA) 
