# MicroDragon
*missions*

## Specifications
- **country**: Vietnam
- **operator**: vnsc
- **actual launch**: 2019-01-18
- **orbit type**: Sun-synchronous orbit; altitude varies across public summaries
- **platform**: microdragon-bus
- **launch vehicle**: jaxa-epsilon
- **actual end of life**: 2024-10-01
- **current status**: ended
- **tasking supported**: false
- **current geographic priority**: Vietnamese ocean, coastal-water, and aerosol-observation applications
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-21
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: vnsc
- **attributes**: {"country":"Vietnam","operator":"vnsc","actual_launch":"2019-01-18","orbit_type":"Sun-synchronous orbit; altitude varies across public summaries","platform":"microdragon-bus","launch_vehicle":"jaxa-epsilon","actual_end_of_life":"2024-10-01","current_status":"ended","tasking_supported":false,"current_geographic_priority":"Vietnamese ocean, coastal-water, and aerosol-observation applications"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
MicroDragon was a Vietnamese Earth-observation microsatellite and capacity-building mission operated by the Vietnam National Space Center.[^jaxa-kakushin-1] Its primary payload supported ocean-colour remote sensing and aerosol-polarisation remote sensing, with bus-heritage verification as an additional mission objective.[^jaxa-kakushin-1] The spacecraft used the MicroDragon microsatellite bus, with a 50.5 kg mass and 50 x 50 x 50 cm form factor.[^jaxa-kakushin-1] MicroDragon launched on 2019-01-18 on the JAXA Epsilon-4 Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 mission.[^jaxa-epsilon4-launch] MicroDragon operated in sun-synchronous orbit.[^jaxa-kakushin-1] The mission ended on 2024-10-01.[^wiki-microdragon]

## Compositional position
- MicroDragon --[mission_payloads]--> microdragon-ocean-color-sensor (products)
- MicroDragon --[mission_buses]--> microdragon-bus (products)
- MicroDragon --[related-topic]--> coastal-water-quality (topics)
- MicroDragon --[related-topic]--> harmful-algal-bloom (topics)
- MicroDragon --[related-topic]--> marine-primary-production (topics)
- MicroDragon --[related-topic]--> air-quality (topics)

## Sources
- [jaxa-kakushin-1] | Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1, JAXA Research and Development Directorate | https://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/kakushin/kakushin01.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-21
- [jaxa-epsilon4-launch] | Launch results of Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 aboard Epsilon-4, JAXA | https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2019/01/20190118a.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-21
- [wiki-microdragon] | MicroDragon, Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroDragon | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-21

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/microdragon
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)