The Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Dr Shahjahan Mahmood on Saturday said, the testing of Bangladesh’s first satellite, Bangabandhu-1, has been completed.
A The Daily Star report published on Saturday, quoted BTRC Chairman Dr Mahmood as saying, “The testing results will be known by Saturday afternoon (Bangladesh time).”
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As per the report, BTRC Chairman Dr Mahmood also said that all the data of the testing have been sent to SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles. SpaceX will inform the results after analyzing the data on Saturday evening.
The report also quoted Mesbahuzzaman, Project Director of Bangabandhu-1, as saying that the testing has been done at 9 am (Bangladesh time) on May 5 and at 7:25 pm (Florida time) of May 4. Now, they are waiting for results.
As per report, ‘Bangabandhu-1’ which was supposed to be launched on May 5, 2018 has been deferred.
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Mesbahuzzaman also said that if everything remains okay in the testing result, the SpaceX will fix the date for the launch of the satellite.
Earlier on Friday, quoting Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser SajeebWazed Joy, a top US chapter Awami League leader said that Bangladesh’s first satellite, Bangabandhu-1, which was scheduled to start its journey towards the orbit on May 7 next as per the latest time-frame, is not ready yet for the launch.
The report also quoted US AL President Dr Siddiqur Rahman as saying on Friday that US company SpaceX informed Joy that the Bangladeshi satellite could not be made ready for the launch.
Sources at SpaceX said the launching date will be fixed once all the preparations are completed after the test.
The launching of Bangabandhu-1 was deferred on Tuesday for technical reasons and unfavourable weather.
On October 21, 2015, the Cabinet Purchase Committee approved the project to buy the satellite system.
Later, BTRC signed a deal involving Tk 2,000 crore with Thales Alenia Space to construct the first-ever satellite project.
It has been reported that Bangladesh will be the 57th country when ‘Bangabandhu-1’ is put into the orbital slot on 119.1degree east longitude.
The slot was bought from Russian satellite company ‘Intersputnik’ for US$ 28 million in January 2015, said the report.