The satellite was launched into orbit on May 7, 2013, from the Kourou launch pad in Guiana, France, under the management of Astrium SAS, an affiliate of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company. 

Since then, it has come into stable operation, taking more than 20,700 images, of which 6,071 feature Vietnamese land.

At a May 5 conference to review the one-year operation of the satellite, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thai Lai said VNREDSat-1 serves as an effective monitoring tool helping the country manage environmental resources and defend national sovereignty. 

It has also contributed to claiming Vietnam’s sovereignty over not only its land, sea and islands but also its airspace, he added. 

The VNREDSat-1 project has had a total investment of EUR55.8 million sourced by the French government's Official Development Assistance and the Vietnamese side's contribution of nearly VND65 billion (EUR2.2 million). 

The satellite is said to be capable of capturing images of all areas in the world and expected to assist with efforts to deal with flooding, forest fires, oil overflows and other incidents quickly and effectively.