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)