Telecom and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar has said the country’s first space satellite Bangabandhu-1 will launch on May 7.
“The latest rescheduled date of launching the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 is now May 7”, he said at a round table meeting at Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission in Dhaka city on Wednesday.
The launching schedule of the satellite has earlier been deferred several times. The last launching date was scheduled for May 4.
Project Director of Bangabandhu-1 Satellite Project Mohammad Mesbahuzzaman attributed the frequent change of the launching date to “weather and technical issues like necessary testing process”.
The Bangabandhu Satellite with a capacity of 1,600 megahertz will have 40 transponders and the physical equipment of the space capsule that measures the capacity.
On October 21, 2015, the Cabinet Purchase Committee approved the project to buy the satellite system.
Later, Bangladesh Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) signed a deal involving Tk 20 billion with Thales Alenia Space to construct the first-ever satellite project.
On September 9, 2016, an agreement of 157 million Euro with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was signed for financing the project.
Bangabandhu-I, to be launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral launching pad, would take eight days to reach its orbital slot
at 119.1 degrees east. Falcon 9, one of the SpaceX's finest launch vehicles, will be used for Bangabandhu-1.
Bangladesh is currently meeting its satellite connectivity demand through renting a bandwidth from foreign operators and the country has to pay 14 million US dollars a year for it.
Once the project is implemented, it will help to save and earn foreign currency as the Bangabandhu Sattelite-1 will provide all kinds of telecommunications services.
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