SpaceX launches Bangabandhu-1, Bangladesh's first satellite on 10 May

New Delhi : The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has announced that the country's first satellite, Bangabandhu-1, will be launched on 10 May from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA by SpaceX.

SpaceX is all set to launch Bangabandhu-1 on 10 May from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has announced the launch of country’s first dedicated satellite which is the most advanced version of Falcon 9 rocket.

"Targeting Falcon 9 Block 5 launch of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on May 10 from Pad 39A in Florida," SpaceX representatives wrote on Twitter on May 7.

Bangabandhu 1 is an advanced communications satellite that SpaceX is launching for the government of Bangladesh. The two-stage Block 5 Falcon 9 is designed to take reusability to new heights. SpaceX has landed and re-flown numerous Falcon 9 first stages over the past few years, but none of these individual boosters has launched more than twice. Block 5 first stages, however, are designed to fly 10 times with just inspections between landing and liftoff, and 100 times with some refurbishment involved, SpaceX representatives have said.

Block 5 basically summarizes all that we learned on reusability," Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of build and flight reliability, said last month during a news conference before the launch of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which lifted off atop a Falcon 9 Block 4. "It's a reliability upgrade that combines reliability and reusability." 

Bangabandhu-1, was initially scheduled for launch on December 2017 and the date had been changed a number of times since then. The government had set the latest date for 7 May, but due to some reason it has been postponed again to 10 May. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will be the first Bangladeshi geostationary communications satellite operated by Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company (BCSCL).