Legislators calls for RI rocket launching center

Legislators calls for RI rocket launching center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (JP): The government needs to conduct a serious feasibility study on whether to establish a rocket launching center in Indonesia, a member of the House of Representatives has declared.

Mohammad Buang, member of the House's Commission X for research, technology, the environment and development plans, said here that by operating its own rocket launching center, Indonesia would save a lot of money because the country has plans to launch more than 20 satellites.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to foreign providers of satellite launch services if we keep on using them to launch our satellites," Buang said.

The House member was in Cape Canaveral to witness the launch of the country's Palapa-C1 satellite last week.

Since adopting satellite telecommunications technology in 1976, Indonesia has always used overseas rockets and launch services, mostly from the United States.

The idea of setting up a domestic rocket launching center was first mooted several years ago. Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave once said that his office and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) would jointly study the feasibility of establishing a rocket launching center in Indonesia.

Joop said that the construction of such a center would be ideally located in the eastern part of Indonesia, in a water- surrounded, thinly populated place like Irian Jaya.

Analysts observed then that the proposed project would be very costly and unfeasible, saying that it was too early for Indonesia to develop such an ambitious project.

Buang, however, said last week that if countries like China and India could successfully developed rocket systems and rocket launching centers, there was no reason why Indonesia could not do so.

"China has even commercialized its Long March rocket system by launching several satellites," he said.

The state-owned PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), one of the country's ten strategic industrial companies, has developed a weapon system technology, including a capability for rocket production. For weapons technology, IPTN has so far manufactured a number of rocket systems under licenses from Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Transponders

Buang also said that Indonesia should give more opportunities to the National Aeronautical and Aviation Agency (LAPAN) for its research and missions.

"Even though Palapa-C1 is a commercial satellite, at least, one of its transponders should have been given to LAPAN for scientific and public services," he said.

Through its remote sensing facilities, the agency records and processes various data which can be used for various purposes, including weather forecasting, detecting forest fires, monitoring mountain activities and detecting environmental pollution.

Palapa-C1, the first of the country's third generation satellites, was successfully launched here last week by an Atlas IIAS rocket. The satellite, equipped with 34 transponders, is owned and commercially operated by PT Satelindo, a private telecommunications firm and will be in service from late March.

All the transponders of Palapa-C1 were booked by 26 parties from eight nations. The lessees are mostly television broadcasters. Domestic users will include the state-run television network TVRI, the five private television networks and the Ministry of Defense. (icn)