Bangabandhu-1 satellite to be launched in May 10

The new date for launching Bangabandhu-1, the first ever satellite of the country, has been set on May 10, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) confirmed today.

The country's first geostationary communications satellite will be launched by Falcon 9 rocket of US launching firm Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) from Cape Canaveral launching pad of Florida.

The launch will take place at 4:00pm (Florida local time), said Md Zakir Hossain Khan, senior assistant director of BTRC.

On May 4 (Florida local time), a "fire test" of Falcon 9 rocket was successfully conducted.

After analysing the data collected from the test, the final date has been fixed, the BTRC official said.

Six officials of the BTRC and satellite project left Dhaka on May 5 and 42 more, including two state ministers and at least six secretaries, will leave today. The Prime Minister's ICT Affair Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is now in the USA, would lead the delegation.  

The May-7 launch date of Bangabandhu-1 was deferred on technical grounds. It was supposed to be launched in December and the date has been pushed back several times due to unfavourable weather and technical reasons.

A group of journalists from Dhaka and some government officials have been staying in Florida since the last week of April on this purpose.

The 3.7-tonne satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space, a France satellite company.

Source: thedailystar