PV Desk : Bangladesh’s first geostationary communication satellite Bangabandhu-I (BS-I) has reached the desired location (orbital slot) 10 days after of its launch from Florida.
“Our satellite has taken its position and started functioning normally,” Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL) Managing Director Md. Saiful Islam told BSS today.
The BS-I was successfully launched from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida of United States 16:14 local time (02:14 BST) on May 11. Most modern rocket “Block 5” version of the Falcon 9 of SpaceX has lifted the BS-I for the orbit located at 119.1 degree east.
The BCSCL Managing Director said now they will conduct a series of tests before starting commercial operation. “Within three months, we will go into commercial operation,” added Islam.
Officials said BS-I will move round the earth once in every 24 hours positioning on 36,000 kilometers height with the similar pace of the earth. Immediately after the launch by the Block 5 of Falcon 9, the BS-I travelled 35,700 kilometers and then it took ten days to travel another 300 kilometers. This process is termed “launch and early orbit phase”.
Tajul Islam, Operation Engineer at Gazipur Ground Station, earlier told BSS that BS-I has started sending signal to the ground station.
He said around two months will be required to get full control of BS-I from the ground stations located in Gazipur’s Joydebpur and Rangamati’s Betbunia.
BS-I will be mainly controlled from the ground station in Gazipur while Betbunia’s ground station will be used as back up of Gazipur.
