Bangabandhu-1, the first commercial satellite of the country, is set to reach its orbit by tomorrow. Contacted over phone, Saiful Islam, Managing Director (MD) of Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL)—the operator of the satellite, yesterday said, “As per the report we got, the satellite right now is at118 degrees East and we hope that it will be at our position 119.1 degrees East soon.”

“We hope to have contact with the satellite from our Gazipur station by Wednesday or Thursday,” he said, adding, “It’ll take two to three months more for the satellite to become fully operational.”

Bangladesh launched its first commercial satellite on 12 may from Kennedy Space Center, Florida using the latest version of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, the Block 5.

 Bangladesh Tele communication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) initiated the project to launch the satellite to the orbit. Later, activities related to the satellite were handed over to the BCSCL.