It was built and launched by the Chinese and has been named after Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda.

[4] 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.

It is controlled from the Base Aeroespacial Capitán Manuel Ríos in El Sombrero, Guárico and managed by Venezuela's Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities.

It was launched by a Long March 2D rocket which put the satellite into low Earth orbit.

It was given the international designator 2012-052A and the United States Space Command assigned it the Satellite Catalog Number 38782.