Bangladesh’s first nano-satellite, made by students of privately-run Brac University, has begun orbiting the lower orbit of the Earth.

It was released into space from International Space Station. The nano-satellite began orbiting the Earth at 3:10pm Bangladesh time this afternoon.

A ground station at the university premises in Dhaka’s Mohakhali will maintain communication with the satellite – downloading information and data collected by it.

A ceremony was arranged in this regard at Brac University auditorium, where the launch was directly televised through a video conference arranged by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Yafes Osman, Bangladesh’s minister for science and technology, attended the ceremony as chief guest along with other dignitaries including Brac’s Vice Chancellor Syed Saad Andaleeb.

Onnesha is a 10 centimetre-edged cube-shaped satellite designed, developed and assembled by three Brac students in Japan’s Kyutech. It is capable of completing one orbit 400 kilometres above the ground in 90 minutes and passing over Bangladesh four to six times every day.

It will allow high quality photographs of land to analyse vegetation, urbanisation, flood, water resources, forestry and other natural resources from overhead – most of which will be used for research purposes.