ASIATODAY.ID, FLORIDA – PT Telekomunikasi Satellite Indonesia (Telkomsat)’s Merah Putih-2 satellite successfully orbited from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, at 0300 WIB, Wednesday, February 21 2024.
The 11th satellite belongs to a subsidiary of PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. it uses High Throughput Satellite (HTS) technology and will occupy an orbital slot of 113 degrees East Longitude.
Merah Putih-2 orbits using a Falcon 9 rocket belonging to SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space transportation company. This special internet satellite will provide data services throughout Indonesia.
Telkom President Director Ririek Adriansyah said the Merah Putih-2 Satellite carries an active transponder consisting of C-band and Ku-band frequencies, which will reach all areas of Indonesia.
Previously, Telkom launched the Merah Putih Satellite in 2018 with placement in orbit slot 108 East Longitude.
Ririek said that the Merah Putih-2 Satellite is a hope and a manifestation of Telkom’s commitment to support equal connectivity throughout Indonesia, complementing land and sea infrastructure.
“Telkom believes that with equal access to information, it is hoped that it can accelerate the digitalization of society in various aspects,” said Ririek, quoted Wednesday, February 21 2024.
The Merah Putih-2 Satellite is a type of GEO satellite. Referring to the dgtlinfra report, GEO satellites are satellites that fly at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers above the earth’s surface. Because of its high location, the latency for service is high, estimated at around 700 milliseconds. The advantage is that it has wide coverage. It only takes 3 GEO satellites to cover 99% of the world.
“Not only does it carry a mission for national connectivity and bring a good name to Indonesia, hopefully the existence of the Merah Putih-2 Satellite can strengthen Telkomsat and TelkomGroup to become big players in the satellite industry in Indonesia,” said Ririek.
Meanwhile, Telkomsat Main Director Lukman Hakim Abd. Rauf said that the Merah Putih-2 Satellite relies on the Spacebus 4000B2 platform with a design age of 15 years. The construction involves Thales Alenia Space which is responsible for satellite manufacturing and SpaceX as the company providing satellite launch services.
Both companies are big players in their sectors and have experience with previous Telkom satellite projects.
“The process of selecting partners and procuring satellites has been carried out in accordance with compliance and the principles of good corporate governance. Apart from the business aspect, the partner selection process has also considered the lowest cost per Gbps, thereby producing satellites with larger capacities at competitive selling prices,” added Lukman. (AT Network)
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