The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has announced that the country's first satellite will be launched on May 10 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA by SpaceX. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will be the first Bangladeshi geostationary communications satellite operated by Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL).
Manufactured by the Thales Alenia Space of France, Bangladesh will operate satellite from 119.1 degree East using a payload comprising 14 C-Band and 26 Ku-Band transponders to deliver focused telecommunications coverage to Bangladesh. One transponder is equivalent to 36 MHz.
SpaceX had previously planned to launch the satellite using Falcon-9 rockets on Dec 16, 2017, but the launch was postponed due to damage from Hurricane Irma.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 project was endorsed by the government in May 2015, and it assigned the Thales Alenia by signing a US$ 248-million deal in November same year.
Thales Alenia completed the manufacturing works of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 few months ago and kept it in a warehouse in Cannes of France. On Mar 29, the satellite was shitted to Florida.
Two ground stations for controlling the satellite have already been built at Joydebpur of Gazipur and Rangamati's Betbunia.
The satellite has 15 years for mission life span while another 3 years for its design.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will offer video services for Direct-to-Home (DTH), e-learning, Tele-medicine, Family Planning, Farming etc while voice service to cellular backhaul and disaster recovery, etc and data service for internet, SCADA, SOHO as well as business-to-business (VSAT) etc.
- Source: News agencies
