Bangabandhu Satellite-1 at Cape Canaveral

30 Mar 2018

Thales Alenia Space Telecommunications

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Bangabandhu Satellite-1 left Thales Alenia Space’s Cannes plant on March 28. After a layover in Boston on March 29, the satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral, safe and sound, on March 30. Built by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the first ever communications satellite of Bangladesh ‘Bangabandhu Satellite-1’ will shortly be orbited by a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Bangladesh’s first communications satellite

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 is designed to reduce the country’s digital divide by providing broadcast and communications services to rural areas, including direct-to-home TV broadcasting across the country and in surrounding regions.

Back in 11 November 2015, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Thales Alenia Space, Mr. Jean-Loïc Galle said, “This satellite, which carries the symbolic name of the father of the nation, Bangabandhu, is a major step forward for telecommunications in Bangladesh, and a fantastic driver of economic development and heightened recognition across Asia.”

Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will empower the economy of Bangladesh, and also generate job opportunities in the region. Thales Alenia Space is very proud of having built this historical satellite, which is eagerly awaited by the people of Bangladesh.

Technical characteristics and coverage zone

Built on the new-generation Spacebus 4000B2 platform from Thales Alenia Space, the satellite is fitted with 26 Ku-band and 14 C-band transponders. Its coverage area includes Bangladesh and surrounding regions. Positioned at 119.1° East, the system will provide Ku-band coverage for Bangladesh and its territorial waters in the Bay of Bengal, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia. It will also provide C-band capacity for the entire region.

Thales Alenia Space’s role

Thales Alenia Space is prime contractor for the turnkey system, in charge of the design, construction, testing and in-orbit delivery of the satellite.

Thales Alenia Space is also responsible for a complete ground segment, which capitalizes on SpaceOps applications, dedicated to mission configuration/monitoring and on Thales Alena Space’s SpaceGate comprehensive solution dedicated to end users applications. The ground segment relies on both Primary and the secondary ground facilities including a building that houses the satellite operation and control center and network operations center. The company’s local partner in Bangladesh, Spectra Engineers Ltd, is in charge of civil engineering works for the ground infrastructures.