BTRC chairman in a news conference in New York Shahjahan Mahmud said that the country's first artificial satellite 'Bangabandhu Satellite - 1' has been purchased orbited at 119.11 East longitude in space, at about 219 billion taka. After 15 years, this orbit will be bought again.
The BTRC chairman said that in the last week of April, Bangabandhu satellite-1 could be launched in space. He said the satellite will be sent to the space by the United States Space Research Organization's Spacecon Falcon-9 rocket.
He said the satellite will be launched from Cape Canal of Florida, USA. But before that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate satellite launch by pressing switch in Dhaka.
It is to be noted that Bangladesh will name 57th satellite member of the country by launching 'Bangabandhu Satellite 1' in space.
Shahjahan Mahmud said that the satellite sending work will be done from the United States but it will be controlled from Bangladesh later. For this purpose, two ground stations of Joydebpur and Rangamati at Batbunia are being constructed for this purpose.
Total cost of implementation of Bangabandhu satellite-1 project is Tk 2,990 crore. Of this, Tk 1,544 crores is being given from the government fund. HSBC Bank is paying the remaining Tk 1,358 crore as loan, he said.