Indonesia to Develop High-Tech Climate Satellite for 2019
19 October 2018 22:27 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Climate change has been an issue that continues to grab the world’s attention, including Indonesia. National Space and Aviation Agency (LAPAN) chief Bambang S. Tejasukmana says that aerospace technology in the form of satellites can be used to anticipate climate change.
Indonesia, he added, only has one satellite with extremely limited abilities. Therefore, Indonesia will start to develop a state of the art satellite with high-tech abilities that will be operational in 2019.
"It will be used to monitor climate change, weather conditions, and even the environment," said Bambang during an international conference on aerospace applications for climate change on Monday. The new satellite is also hoped to be able to support food security, energy and environmental programs.
The satellite will weigh in at one ton and is projected to cost up to Rp2 trillion to manufacture. The development of this satellite is a national project, thus other institutes and ministries will be involved in the making.
Although only the concept of the development has been discussed, this satellite will have abilities that exceed existing satellites.
The satellite will be manufactured by state-owned enterprises such as LEN or Dirgantara Indonesia.
The development of this satellite is also aimed at strengthening the role of Indonesia as a member of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. There are currently only a few countries that have state of the art satellites for monitoring climate change such as the United States, Japan, China, India, Brazil, and South Korea.
ROSALINA
