SpaceX Falcon 9 to Launch Indonesia`s Merah Putih Satellite
7 August 2018 12:20 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State owned telecommunication company Telkom is set to launch its Merah Putih Satellite with the help of SpaceX’ Falcon 9 rocket on August 6.
The Falcon 9’s payload, according to NASA spaceflight, is equipped with sixty C-band transponders, the 5,800-kilogram (12,786 pound) spacecraft will provide
communications services to Indonesia and India.
“The mission is to increase the capacity of Telkom’s existing 73 transponders in Telkom 2 and Telkom 3S to a total of 133 transponders. The additional 60 transponders will be provided by the Merah Putih satellite,” said Denny Setiawan, Communication and Informatics Ministry’s Director of Resource Management of the Directorate General of Resources and Post and Informatics Equipments on Monday night.
The Merah Putih satellite was constructed by Space Systems/Loral, based around the SSL-1300 platform in Palo Alto, California. The satellite is planned to be launched to a geostationary orbit taking over Telkom 1’s previous slot at 108 East Longitude and is expected to provide at
least fifteen-years of service.
“The other mission is to secure and maximize the satellite filing at the 108 East Longitude orbit that was under ITU’s suspension since it was abandoned by the Telkom 1 satellite in 2017,” said Denny. SpaceX will reuse its first Block 5 Falcon 9 booster in Tuesday’s launch of Merah Putih satellite.
MOH KHORY ALFARIZI