Telkom-1 was a geosynchronous

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

built by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

, ( Sunnyvale, California), for Indonesia's state-owned telecommunications company, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (PT Telkom). It operated for almost 18 years, more than two years past designed lifetime of 15 years.

Launch

Telkom-1 was successfully launched 12 August 1999, by an Ariane-42P H10-3, from

Centre Spatial Guyanais The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

, pad ELA-2, Kourou,

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

, at 22:52 UTC and positioned in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

, at 108° East for replaced Palapa-B2R.

Satellite description

Based on Lockheed Martin A2100A satellite bus, Telkom-1 features communications satellite technology, with 24 C-band and 12 Enhanced C-band transponders. The new spacecraft replaced on-orbit Palapa-B2R satellite, improve communications coverage across

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and allow PT Telkom to expand its coverage area into

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Launch had been delayed because of problems with comsat manufacturing. Telkom-1 is a successor to the

Palapa Palapa is a series of communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Telkom Indonesia, Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). The first satellite was launched in July 197 ...

series of satellites, the first ( Palapa-A1) of which was launched in 1976. Mass of Telkom-1 is launch, in

(GEO).

Mission

Telkom-1 had developed problems with the south

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

drive, due to a manufacturing error. The satellite was planned to be decommissioned in 2018 and to be replaced by Telkom-4. On 25 August 2017, Telkom-1 lost contact and suffered a massive debris shedding event, and Telkom-1 was retired without being able to move itself into a graveyard orbit.

References

External links

Telkom-2

Communications satellites Satellites using the A2100 bus Satellites in geosynchronous orbit Lockheed Martin satellites and probes Satellites of Indonesia Ariane commercial payloads Spacecraft that broke apart in space {{satellite-stub