Surprised by the salaries of aerospace experts and engineers

Despite being well-trained abroad, when returning to work in the country, aerospace experts and engineers only receive a salary of 5-8 million VND.

In a seminar on the space technology industry held in July 2025, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam Space Center under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, revealed the salaries of experts and engineers in this industry.

Accordingly, foreign-trained experts working at the center only receive a salary of 5-8 million VND per month.

While the cost of training to become an aerospace expert is 5-6 billion VND. This is the reason why many experts and engineers in the aerospace industry have left state agencies to join private units.

Young scientists of the Vietnam Space Center participate in researching and manufacturing the MicroDragon satellite. (Photo: VNSC)

Dr. Le Xuan Huy, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Space Center, said that when recruiting, the center also explained that in addition to the basic salary, depending on the dynamism and ability of each person, experts and engineers can participate in additional research topics and other jobs to increase their income. However, that source of income is unstable and depends on time.

Therefore, the leaders of the Vietnam Space Center proposed to build a long-term strategy for the period 2040-2050, along with a financial mechanism to retain human resources.

Space technology is identified as one of the country’s 11 strategic technology fields. Experts and engineers in this field are highly trained to research, design, manufacture, test and operate satellites, aiming to realize Vietnam’s dream of mastering space, while minimizing dependence on foreign technology and services.

Vietnam's aerospace industry is still in its infancy but has made significant progress.

In 2008, the telecommunications satellite Vinasat-1 was launched into orbit, followed by Vinasat-2 in 2012 and the Earth observation satellite VNREDSat-1 in 2013.

All these satellites are manufactured by foreign suppliers and operated and exploited by domestic units and enterprises.

Minh Hoan

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/bat-ngo-muc-luong-cua-chuyen-gia-ky-su-nganh-hang-khong-vu-tru-chua-toi-10-trieu-thang-ar972686.html