After three months of stable operation in the orbit, Vietnam’s first macro satellite named PicoDragon gradually reduced its altitude and was burnt when it fell into the Earth's atmosphere, marking the first step in the development of satellites in Vietnam.

"PicoDragon went into the atmosphere and was burnt at the designed lifetime. The first macro satellite of Vietnam has completed the task," said Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the National Satellite Center (VNSC).

PicoDragon was launched into space last August at the Tanegashima Space Center. In over three-year operation in orbit, the satellite worked relatively stable and continuous transmitted signals – the bulletin "PicoDragon Vietnam" to ground stations around the world.

From this success, according to Dr. Tuan, the VNSC will develop the nano-sized satellites (approximately 10 kg) in 2016 and micro-sized satellites (about 50 kg) in 2017 and the Earth observation satellite weighing 500 kg in 2020.

Pico Dragon’s size is 10 x 10 x 11.35 cm, weighing one kilogram. It is a product developed by a team of engineers and researchers of the VNSC.

The mission of the satellite is taking photos of the earth, measuring some satellite parameters and space environment by sensors mounted on the satellite and making communications to the earth.