Telkom-2 was a geosynchronous communications satellite built by

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

(OSC) for Indonesia's state-owned telecommunications company, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (PT Telkom). Telkom-2 was successfully launched on 16 November 2005, at 23:46:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

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 118° East for replaced Palapa-B4.

History

Based on Orbital's highly successful and flight-proven STAR-2

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 less customized than specially-produced satelli ...

, Telkom-2 featured state-of-the-art

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 ...

technology, and 24 C-band

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 trans ...

. The new spacecraft replaced PT Telkom's on-orbit Palapa-B4 satellite, improved 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 allowed 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 ...

. Orbital also supplemented Telkom's existing

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fr ...

, and offered extensive mission operations support. There were several postponements prior to Telkom-2's launch. Three launch delays happened in November 2005 due to technical problems with the

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

. Multiple delayed took place between November 2004 and October 2005 due to different problems including technical problems with the satellite. Orbital's contract with PT Telkom included an optional order for another geostationary satellite. Telkom-2 was finally launched on 16 November 2005. Telkom-2 successfully operated for 15 years. The satellite was retired and placed into a

graveyard orbit A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an Orbit (physics), orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellit ...

in June 2021. Specification of Telkom-2 satellite: * Owner: PT Telkomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (PT Telkom) * Mission: C-band

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

s for Indonesia * Performance:

Repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

- two groups of 15-for-12 linearized

traveling-wave tube A traveling-wave tube (TWT, pronounced "twit") or traveling-wave tube amplifier (TWTA, pronounced "tweeta") is a specialized vacuum tube that is used in electronics to amplify radio frequency (RF) signals in the microwave range. It was invented ...

assemblies (TWTA) *

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 trans ...

Power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

- 39

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s RF * Stabilization - three-axis, zero momentum * Redundancy: Full dual string * Solar arrays: 2 panel wings with improved triple-junction

GaAs Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...

cells * Propulsion: Liquid bi-propellant transfer

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

system;

monopropellant Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with biprop ...

(

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

) on-orbit * Repeater: Two groups of 15-for-12 linear traveling wave tube assemblies ( TWTAs) * Antenna: Two 2.0 m (6.6 ft) dual-griddled shaped- beam reflectors

Also

* Article ''Satelit Telkom-2 telah Diluncurkan'', internet: https://web.archive.org/web/20070623104954/http://pribadi.or.id/diary/2005/11/17/satelit-telkom-2-telah-diluncurkan/

References

External links

Telkom-2

(orbital.com) {{Indonesian Space Program Communications satellites Communications in Indonesia Satellites of Indonesia Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2005 Satellites using the GEOStar bus 2005 in Indonesia