Close up of Vinasat-2 satellite on launch pad

Talking to the PV, Director of the Telecommunications Project Management Unit of VNPT - Hoang Minh Thong said that by the afternoon of May 15, the preparation for satellite launch was almost completed. The countdown system was started at around 17:00 on May 15 (Vietnam time), ie 12 hours before the launch.

As the second satellite of Vietnam, Vinasat-2 weighs approximately 3 tons, launched into a static geographic orbit of 131.8 degrees east, only 0.2 degrees away from Vinasat-1.

Vinasat-2 satellite is manufactured on the A2100 platform, with a design life of 15 years. With 30 36MHz transponders on the Ku band (24 sets of commercial operators and 6 redundant sets), Vinasat-2 is capable of covering Southeast Asia and some neighboring countries. Vinasat-2 transmission capacity is equivalent to 13,000 voice / Internet / data transmission channels or 150 television channels.

Together with Vinasat-2, the Ariane 5 missile will carry the Japanese JCSAT-13 satellite. The JCSAT 13 weighs about 4.5 tons and will be placed above Vinasat-2 in the rocket's cargo hold. During launch, JCSAT will split first (about 26 minutes after leaving the ground) and towards the direction of 124 degrees East. Vinasat-2 will be removed from the rocket 10 minutes later.

Both JCSAT 13 and Vinasat-2 are manufactured by Lockheed Martin (USA) and are its 100th and 101th satellite products. This will also be the 206th flight of the Ariane rocket generation, since 1979.

About 10 hours before the launch, 600 tons of fuel will be loaded into missiles by engineers of the European Aerospace Agency (Arianespace).

From Kourou in Guyana (South America), Mr. Hoang Minh Thong said, the launch yard is about 3km away from where the missile is assembled. The weather here is quite nice and stable. "Only in the case of a major storm, is this event at risk of being postponed, but also small rain or cloudiness that does not affect satellite launch , " he said.

Vinasat-2 has a total cost of 260-280 million USD, approved by the Prime Minister and assigned to VNPT as an investor in December 2009. Like Vinasat-1, the Vinasat-2 project partner is still Lockheed Martin (United States) with the supply of satellites, control station equipment and launch services.