The country's first satellite Bangabandhu-1 will be launched on May 10. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman said that if weather is favorable and no technical difficulties, the satellite will be launched at 4:00 pm local time.
Earlier on 4th May the static fire test of the carrier rocket was completed. The satellite will be launched by the Falcon-9 rocket of United States private space exploration and technology company SpaceX. This will be used in the latest version of Falcon-9.
Thales Alenia Space, a France satellite company has built Bangabandhu satellite. After the construction, examination, review it transfer by the special cargo to the United States for the launch. On December 16, 2017 preparations for launching the Bangabandhu satellite from the Cape Canvarelal launch pad in Florida.
However, due to massive damage to Hurricane IMA in Florida, the satellite launch stopped from the launch pad. As a result, the satellite launch of various countries including Bangladesh has been delayed. Then the probable day was determined in February. Later on April 5, 24th April, 27 April and 4 May the date of launch was determined, but it is further lagged in various complications.
According to the BTRC sources, after the launch of Bangabandhu-1, the cost of foreign satellite will save up to 14 million dollars annually in Bangladesh.