Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization SPARRSO

History and Founding

Space technology activities in Bangladesh began in 1968 with the establishment of an Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) ground station at the Atomic Energy Centre in Dhaka. The Space and Atmospheric Research Centre (SARC) was created within the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission in 1972. Following the successful Bangladesh ERTS Programme, the Bangladesh Landsat Programme (BLP) was incorporated into the national five-year plan in 1975. SPARRSO was formally established in 1980 by merging SARC and BLP. The Parliament of Bangladesh reorganized SPARRSO through Act No. 29 of 1991 as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Defence.

Collections, Data, and Research

SPARRSO operates 17 working divisions and maintains a technical library of more than 5,000 books on remote sensing, GIS, and earth sciences, alongside journals and periodicals published locally and internationally. The organization applies satellite data across agriculture, forestry, fisheries, geology, cartography, water resources, land use monitoring, weather, environment, and oceanography. SPARRSO collaborates with NASA, JAXA, CNES, and ESA, processing data from NOAA, GMS, Terra, and Aqua satellites. It received the NASA Group Achievement Award in 1986 and is a founding member of the Asian Association of Remote Sensing.

Publications

SPARRSO regularly publishes annual reports, quarterly newsletters, and a Bangla-language periodical, Dur Anudhaban Samoyekee. The organization is a member of the International Astronautical Federation and the Asian Association of Remote Sensing.

Access and Usage

SPARRSO organizes training courses in remote sensing and GIS for Bangladeshi scientists and engineers and for participants from other countries. Its Regional Remote Sensing Centre provides data processing, training, and application support. Some spatial datasets are available through the organization's portal.