Vietnamese scientists look to the skies with NASA on observation project

Scientists from Vietnam and NASA are working on a joint project to monitor Southeast Asian land use, local media have reported from an ongoing conference attended by 60 scientists.

The “Land Use Status, Change and Impacts in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos” project aims to build a quantitative database on land coverage and land use, and to create maps on the changing populations and the demography in the Southeast Asian nations.

NASA would provide scientists with data retrieved from its satellites to help assess regional land use and its changes.

Nghiem Van Son, a senior researcher from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and one of the project’s founders, said that data retrieved from satellites will help create a comprehensive picture of Vietnam’s landmass so that scientists can monitor the entire area instead of having to rely on individual reports, Vietnam News Agency reported. Quantitative research, including the monitoring of drought-prone areas and volumetric flow rates in rivers, will be included in the reports.

Pham Quang Tuan, head of the Vietnam University of Science’s Faculty of Geography, said the collaboration with NASA will give Vietnamese scientists access to modern space technology, and help them with the country’s urban development and natural disaster risk management.

The project is expected to run for three years, the report said.

NASA is an independent agency of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government responsible for its civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. The agency was established in 1958, and is currently led by Jim Bridenstine.