Telkom-3 is an Indonesian
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 ...
which failed to reach its target orbit due to a launch failure on 6 August 2012. It was built by
ISS Reshetnev for Indonesian telecommunications provider
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia. It was based on the
Ekspress-1000H bus and had 32
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 ...
and 16
Ku-band transponders. It was due to be located in
geosynchronous orbit
A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...
at 118° East above the
equator
The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
.
The satellite reentered the atmosphere and was destroyed on 5 February 2021.
Launch
Telkom-3 was launched along with
Ekspress-MD2 by a
Proton-M rocket with
Briz-M upper stage on 6 August 2012 at 19:31:00
UTC. The satellites were launched from
Site 81/24 at
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. The first three stages of the Proton launched worked as expected and the satellites were attached to the Briz-M upper stage which would transfer them into geosynchronous orbit. The Briz-M undertakes a series of four burns with coasting stages to do this. The third burn was due to be 18 minutes long but the engines cut out after 7 seconds, leaving the satellites in an unusable orbit.
of 266 x 5015 km x 49.9°.
Telkom-3 manufacturer ISS Reshetnev announced that the satellite was under control with its
solar panels
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 ...
extended but would not be able to be used for its intended purpose as it was in the wrong orbit.
Investigation

This was the second launch failure caused by a Briz-M within twelve months as
Ekspress-AM4 was lost in August 2011 due to a computer error.
Other recent launch failures included three
GLONASS
GLONASS (, ; ) is a Russian satellite navigation system operating as part of a radionavigation-satellite service. It provides an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS) and is the second navigational system in operation with global cove ...
satellites in 2011 and Mars probe
Fobos-Grunt. All Proton-M launches were suspended and all Briz-M stages were recalled. This triggered discussion on the crisis in the Russian space industry with Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
quoted as saying "We are losing authority and billions of rubles" due to the frequent launch failures. Medvedev chaired a meeting on the issue on 14 August 2012 and President Vladimir Putin had a meeting on organisational issues. One of the suggestions is that
Roscosmos
The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...
could be transformed into a corporation similar to
Rosatom
State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (commonly referred to as Rosatom rus, Росатом, p=rosˈatəm}), also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, (), or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), sta ...
.
An investigation was set up by Roscosmos head
Vladimir Popovkin and was headed by O.P. Skorobogatov from
TsNIIMash. It was reported in early August 2012 by Russian newspaper
Kommersant
(, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...
that the failure was caused by a fault in the fuel pipe in the Briz-M. The Khrunichev Failure Review Oversight Board found that it was caused by a faulty component in the pressurisation system.
On 16 October 2012, the Briz-M exploded into eighty pieces.
The director general of
Khrunichev, Vladimir Nesterov, was dismissed from his post by President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
.
The Proton-M returned to flight on 14 October 2012, carrying
Intelsat 23
Intelsat 23 is a communications satellite run by Intelsat which will provide communications services for the Americas, Western Europe and Africa. It is in a geosynchronous orbit located at 53° west and will replace Intelsat 707. It was built by ...
. It had been postponed from August 2012 due to the launch failure.
Telkom-3S
The replacement satellite, named
Telkom-3S, was contract awarded to its satellite competitor,
Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France.
It provides space-based ...
on 28 July 2014. Telkom-3S was launched from the
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 ...
on 14 February 2017 and commissioned into service on 17 April 2017.
Return and reentry
In early 2021, concerns arose about the imminent reentry of Telkom-3 to the
Atmosphere of Earth
The atmosphere of Earth is composed of a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the Earth's planetary surface (both lands and oceans), known collectively as air, with variable quantities of suspended aerosols and particulates (which create weather ...
after over eight years in orbit. The
National Institute of Aeronautics and Space
The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (, LAPAN) was the Indonesian government's space agency. It was established on 27 November 1963, by former Indonesian president Sukarno, after one year's existence of a previous, informal space ...
(LAPAN) reported that they started an intensive study of the reentry since mid-January 2021. By 1 January 2021, the satellite's orbit had decayed to 217 x 555 km x 49.9°.
The
orbital inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Earth ...
of 49.9° meant that it could reenter anywhere between latitude 49.9° North and 49.9° South, and it was calculated to have a 1:140000 casualty risk. The satellite's orbit was tracked by U.S. radars throughout its time in orbit, and
Space-Track reported
that it reentered between 09:26 and 09:42
UTC on 5 February 2021, somewhere on an arc from Kazakhstan through southern
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
and northern China. The Indonesian government reported that although Telkom-3 had returned to Earth's surface, the exact location was unknown and there were no reports of debris being found.
References
{{Indonesian Space Program
Communications satellites
Communications in Indonesia
Satellites of Indonesia
Satellites using the Ekspress bus
Spacecraft launched in 2012
Satellite launch failures
Spacecraft launched by Proton rockets
2012 in Indonesia