Bangabandhu satellite blasts off; the country bursts into joy; PM greets the nation
Bangladesh has made history by successfully launching the country’s maiden satellite into the earth’s orbit.
Bangabandhu-1 blasted into the space in the early hours of Saturday, a day after technical glitches led to postponement of the much-awaited launch.
Officials said the high-orbit communications satellite left the ground at 2:14am Bangladesh time (4:14pm Florida time on May 11) from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the US and was deployed in the orbit 33 minutes after the launch.
They said SpaceX, the satellite launching company, used the launch window that spans between 4:14pm and 6:21pm EDT on May 11 (2:14am and 4:21am Bangladesh time on May 12) to fire up the block-5 version of Falcon-9 rocket to carry Bangabandhu-1 to the orbit.
The Falcon-9 returned to the earth and landed on a floating sea platform near the launch station eight minutes after the liftoff.
With the launch of Bangabandhu-1, Bangladesh has entered the 57-member prestigious satellite club.
The satellite was fired into the space from the historic launch complex 39-A in Kennedy Space Centre, which was used for launch of the Apollo 11 to the Moon.
As soon as the satellite left the ground, Bangladeshis in the country and across the globe burst into cheers. People from other nations staying in Florida also joined the celebration.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally announced the launch of the satellite in a televised speech just after blast-off. She congratulated the countrymen for the achievement and thanked the nations who helped Bangladesh in the mission.
SpaceX had postponed the launch for a day just 42 seconds before the scheduled blast-off at 4:47am Bangladesh time on May 11 (3:47pm Florida time on May 10). It announced the new schedule immediately after the postponement. BTRC chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood told reporters at a press conference at Hilton hotel in Orlando, Florida after the deferment: “SpaceX confirmed us that some technical faults in the ground support systems led to the deferment of the launch of Bangabandhu-1 satellite.”
The satellite will control and facilitate telephonic, internet and other data transfer via sky. A SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket is carrying the 3.5-tonne satellite to the geostationary transfer orbit. SpaceX is using block-5 version of their Falcon-9 rocket for the first time to launch a satellite. Static fire tests for the rocket were successfully done on May 4 at Kennedy Space Centre. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and a high-level delegation from Bangladesh, led by state minister for information Tarana Halim, witnessed the historic launch.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood, several lawmakers, government high officials and a group of journalists also witnessed the ceremony. The Kennedy Space Centre invited visitors to attend the launch of the satellite.
Visitors watched the launch from both visitor complexes — Apollo/Saturn V centre, which is 3.9 miles away from the launch pad, and the main visitor complex, which is seven miles off the launch station.
The launch of the satellite was deferred several times on technical grounds.
The satellite was originally scheduled for launch in December last year, but the devastation from Hurricane Irma delayed the blast-off.
The Bangabandhu-1 satellite has 40 transponders. Bangladesh will use 20 of those, saving around $14 million a year now spent on hiring the service from foreign countries. The remaining 20 transponders will be rented out.
The satellite went up to 36,000km from the launch pad before making adjustments for orbit. Built in Thales Alenia Space Facilities in France, the satellite was taken to Cape Canaveral launch pad in a special cargo plane.
The Falcon-9 rocket has four parts, with the satellite on the top, followed by the adaptor. Below the adaptor is Stage-2 of the rocket, while the lowest section is Stage-1. At one point, the Stage-1 rockets will be jettisoned and fall back to Earth.
The entire launch process has two phases with the first one being the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) and the second one being Satellite in Orbit. The LEOP phase will take 10 days while the second one will take 20 days.
After the satellite becomes active, its control will shift to three ground stations in the US, Italy and Korea, Bangabandhu-1 project director Md Mesbahuzzaman earlier said.
“The three stations will take control of the satellite and move it 300km to its assigned position (119.1 east longitudinal orbital slot),” he added.
Bangabandhu satellite’s ground stations have been built in Gazipur’s Joydevpur and Rangamati’s Betbunia.
Television channels in Bangladesh telecast the satellite launch live while www.space.com website live-streamed it.
The ECNEC approved the satellite project in 2015. In November 2015, BTRC signed a $248-million deal with Thales Alenia Space to manufacture and launch the satellite.
The orbital slot for the satellite was bought from Russian company “Intersputnik” at $28 million in January 2015.
[source: Daily Sun]
