VRSS-1

VRSS-1 (Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite-1), also known as (Satellite) Francisco Miranda, is the first Venezuelan remote sensing satellite, and the second Venezuelan satellite after VENESAT-1. It will be used to study the territory of Venezuela and help with planning, agriculture and disaster recovery. It was built and launched by the Chinese and has been named after Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda. It reached end of life in 2022.

==Satellite== thumbnail|left|A Long March 2D launching VRSS-1 on 29 September 2012 The satellite was built after a contract between Venezuela and China was signed in Caracas on 26 May 2011, and follows from their previous collaboration on VENESAT-1. The contract, worth $144.8 million USD, included $67.8 million for the satellite, $22m for the launch, $16m for the ground station in Venezuela and $22m for software. The main contractor is China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the satellite is based on the CAST 2000 bus developed by the China Academy of Space Technology. One source posits that VRSS-1 is based upon the Chinese Yaogan-2 reconnaissance satellite.