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Palapa is a series of
Communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth ...
s owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). Starting with the first in July 1976, at which time
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
became the first developing country to operate its own domestic satellite system. The estimated cost for the project was US$1 billion.


History

The first satellite, Palapa-A1 of , was launched on 8 July 1976 at 23:31 UTC from
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...
by a Delta 2914
launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and sys ...
, or at 06:31 Indonesian Time on 9 July 1976. Palapa-A2 was launched on 10 March 1977. The name "Palapa" was bestowed by then Indonesian President
Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto l ...
, after the Palapa oath sworn by Gajah Mada, the Prime Minister of
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia ...
Kingdom, in 1334. According to the Pararaton (Book of Kings), Gajah Mada swore that he would not taste any ''palapa'' (historians suggest it refers to spice or a kind of flavouring), as long as he had not succeeded in unifying Nusantara (the Indonesian archipelago). After watching the launching of the satellite via television in Jakarta, President Suharto revealed his reason on naming the satellite "palapa"; to show that Indonesia had a glorious past, and also hope that the system can unite the archipelago. Palapa-B1 was deployed by the STS-7 shuttle mission on 18 June 1983. Palapa-B2 was launched from
STS-41-B STS-41-B was the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the . It launched on 3 February 1984, and landed on 11 February 1984 after deploying two communications satellites. It was also notable for including the first untethere ...
on 3 February 1984, to be put into service afterward, but the perigee kick motor (also known as the Payload Assist Module, or PAM) on the satellite failed during its approach to geosynchronous orbit, placing it at an improper and inoperable
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...
. It was retrieved on 16 November 1984, by the
STS-51A STS-51-A (formerly STS-19) was the 14th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the second flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 8, 1984, and landed just under eight days later ...
mission of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
's
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...
, where it was brought back to
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...
. The Space Shuttle mission to retrieve Palapa-B2 as well as the Westar-6 satellite which shared the launch
payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...
with Palapa-B2, was partially funded by the
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
companies led by Lloyd's of London who insured the launch of those two satellites. Palapa-B2P was launched on 20 March 1987. Palapa-B2 was renamed as Palapa-B2R and launched on 13 April 1990. Palapa-B4 was launched on 14 May 1992. Palapa-C1 was launched on 1 February 1996. Palapa-C2 was launched on 16 May 1996. The
Palapa-D Palapa-D was an Indonesian geostationary communications satellite which was operated by Indosat Ooredoo. It was built by Thales Alenia Space, based on the Spacebus-4000B3 satellite bus, and carries 35 C-band and 5 Ku-band transponders. It was ...
satellite was manufactured by
Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...
and launched aboard a Chinese Long March 3B launch vehicle on 31 August 2009. However it failed to reach the intended orbit following a failure of the third stage of the launch vehicle to reignite as planned. Spacebus
satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...
was maneuvered into the correct geosynchronous orbit by September 2009, but this left it with only enough fuel for 10 years in orbit. This US$200 million satellite has more
transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight tra ...
than its predecessors (40 transponders, Palapa-C2 only has 36). 16 (40%) of its transponders are used by Indosat for their own purposes while the other 24 (60%) are rented to others. Indosat used Palapa-D for their broadband internet service (IM2) with Ku-band technology (12/14 GHz). At the end of October 2009, Palapa D started its airing operations.


Lighthouse project

The Palapa project was one of the Lighthouse projects instituted during the New Order period to build national pride. Other lighthouse projects during the New Order included transport infrastructure, the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah theme park and the national aircraft company. Most of these involved extravagant inauguration ceremonies with the officials who oversaw the projects in the spotlight. In the inauguration ceremony of the Palapa satellite system, President Suharto used a switch with 17 jewels (17 is the date of Indonesia's Proclamation of Independence) in the shape of a traditional dagger or
kris The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its dist ...
. Besides symbolizing national unity and concretely helping unite the country as the satellite served its purpose as communication infrastructure, the satellite also tied advanced technology to Javanese tradition as epitomized by the inauguration ceremony.


References


External links

* Gunter's Space Page - information o
Palapa-B
* Palapa A at Boein





{{Indonesian Space Program, state=open 1976 establishments in Indonesia Communications satellites Communications in Indonesia Space program of Indonesia