Govt keen to award Airbus Bangabandhu Satellite-2 project
Bangabandhu Satellite-2, intended for earth observation, is set to be launched in mid-2025
The government is set to award the letter of intent (LOI) for Bangabandhu Satellite-2 to French aerospace company Airbus.
Officials from both sides would join the LOI awarding programme during the Dhaka visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, said Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman and CEO of the Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited, the state-owned company that also owns and operates Bangabandhu Satellite-1.
Meanwhile, Thales Alenia Space, another French-Italian firm that worked on the country's maiden satellite in 2018, submitted its proposal for the Bangabandhu Satellite-2 project on Sunday.
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Shahjahan Mahmood told The Business Standard on Sunday that the LOI is aimed at engaging Airbus, and if the government finds everything right in terms of national interest, a contract would be signed later.
The project's value was still untold and it would take several weeks of work, he said.
He expects the second satellite, intended for earth observation, to be launched in mid-2025.
Sources at the Bangladesh Satellite Company said the two competing firms offered different things with the satellite project. Airbus wanted to manufacture the cubicle satellites locally in Bangladesh, while Thales Alenia wanted to train local professionals.
Unlike Bangabandhu Satellite-1, which is used by telecommunication and satellite television companies, Bangabandhu Satellite-2 will be used by the local authorities and agencies to keep monitoring the relevant earth surface.
For instance, the Bangladesh Navy and marine researchers could keep an eye on the vast sea at the Bay of Bengal, Shahjahan Mahmood said, adding that the departments related to forestry, agriculture, land, environment, urban planning, construction, and development would be using the national satellite to save the foreign currencies being spent every year now.
The Bangladesh Satellite Company had signed a memorandum of cooperation with Russian space firm Glavkosmos for Bangabandhu Satellite-2 in February last year, eying a $435 million project cost.
However, the US sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine war did not allow the cooperation to be realised.
