Bangabandhu-I launching process resumes tonight

The launching process of Bangabandhu-I satellite will resume tonight after it was postponed early hours of Friday due to 'standard ground system auto abort'.

"Standing down today (Friday) due to a standard ground system auto abort," SpaceX tweeted early today, BSS reported.

Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is leading a Bangladesh delegation to Florida, USA, to witness the satellite launching, said in a Facebook status that the final minutes of the launch was fully controlled by computers.

He said if the computer finds any measurement is out of normal, it aborts the launch.

"Today it aborted the launch just 42 seconds before launch. SpaceX will check everything and attempt the launch again tomorrow at the same time. This is quite normal for rocket launches as you cannot take any risk," Joy said.

SpaceX in its tweet said the rocket and satellite "are in good health" and its teams are working on resuming the launching process at 4:14 pm US local time, which will be 2.14 am Bangladesh time on May 12 (Saturday).

Earlier, SpaceX completed all the processes to launch the nation's dream satellite last night 4:14 pm US local time and 2:14 am Bangladesh time. The schedule was even forwarded by half an hour and then again deferred by two hours before the auto abort of the launching process.

Now, SpaceX will resume the launching process tonight to send the country's first geostationary communication satellite to the orbit from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA.

Falcon 9, the finest rocket of American firm SpaceX, will carry the satellite to the orbit from the Cape Canaveral launching pad.

"Launching of Bangabandhu-I satellite is an instance of technology-led transformation of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy,” said State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who is now in Florida to witness the momentous event.

He said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman initiated the task of entering the space age by setting up the country's first ever satellite earth station in 1974.

People all of ages across the country were awake even after mid-night (Thursday night) to watch the live telecast of the country's another proud event. Many people especially the expatriate Bangladeshis in different countries also sit in front of televisions and computers to see the live telecast and webcast of the satellite launching.

With sending the Bangabandhu-I to the orbit, Bangladesh will become the 57th country to launch a geostationary communication satellite.