Palapa's unifies the archipelago
Palapa's unifies the archipelago
PT Satelindo invited I. Christianto of The Jakarta Post to witness the launching of the Palapa-C1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Jan. 31. The following are his reports on competition in the spacecraft business and other satellite-related matters.
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia entered the era of satellite-based telecommunications 27 years ago when President Soeharto inaugurated the operation of telecoms technology using a satellite belonging to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) on Sep. 27, 1969.
Seven years later, on July 9, 1976, Indonesia launched its first satellite, the Palapa-A1, from Cape Canaveral, USA.
The name Palapa was taken from Sumpah Palapa, an oath made by Gajah Mada, the leader of the 14th century Majapahit kingdom. In 1331, the Majapahit were facing chaos from rebels in Sadeng, East Java. They were finally eliminated by top leaders of the kingdom including Gajah Mada, who said upon victory: "Lamun huwus kalah Nusantara isun amukti palapa, lamun huwus kalah ring Gurun, ring Seran, Tanjungpura, Haru, Pahang, Dompo, Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, Samana isun amukti palapa."
(When I have succeeded in integrating the archipelago, I shall rest. When Gurun, Seran, Tanjungpura, Haru, Pahang, Dompo, Bali, Sunda, Palembang and Tumasuk are united, I shall rest.)
In the ancient Javanese language, amukti means to enjoy or to rest, while palapa means the fruit of an effort. Sumpah Amukti Palapa can be defined as Gajah Mada's pledge to not rest until the archipelago was united.
Indonesia, which lies between 95 degrees and 141 degrees east longitude, has more than 17,000 islands. A telecommunications satellite is crucial to its unity.
Since the lift-off of the Palapa-A1 in 1976, about six centuries after Gajah Mada made his pledge, Indonesia has launched six more satellites.
The Palapa-A2 was launched by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1977, less than a year after the launching of the Palapa-A1. The Palapa-A series consisted of two satellites.
Indonesia entered the Palapa-B generation in 1983. It ordered four spacecraft for the Palapa-B series, called the Palapa-B1, Palapa-B2P, Palapa-B2P and Palapa-B4.
The Palapa-B2P, which replaced the Palapa-B2, was launched in February 1984 by a space shuttle. However, the spacecraft did not reach its proper orbit due to failure of the perigee kick motor. Indonesia then ordered the Palapa-B2P (P stands for Pengganti, meaning substitute), which was launched in March 1987. Meanwhile, in November 1984, a space shuttle crew recovered the Palapa-B2 and returned it to Earth for the insurance underwriters. The satellite was refurbished and sold back to Indonesia. The spacecraft, renamed the Palapa-B2R (R means refurbished) was relaunched in April 1990. The last of the Palapa-B type, the Palapa-B4, was launched in May 1992.
Both the Palapa-A and the Palapa-B generation satellites were manufactured by Hughes of the United States. The two Palapa satellite generations are operated by the state-owned domestic telecommunications provider PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom).
Meanwhile, the Palapa-C generation is operated by PT Satelindo.
Indonesia is currently operating three satellites, the Palapa- B2R, Palapa-B4 and Palapa-C1.
HSC
Like its predecessors in the Palapa-A and Palapa-B series, the Palapa-C spacecraft is also manufactured by the Hughes Space and Communications Company (HSC) of the United States. PT Satelindo, a private firm, has also appointed Hughes to build the first two satellites of the planned three Palapa-C series.
The company is one of the leading satellite manufacturers in the world. HSC designed and built the world's first synchronous communications satellite in 1963. Two years later, the company marked its first commercial satellite launch.
HSC has been a major supplier of communications satellites for countries like Australia and Mexico, both with large areas and scattered populations, and Indonesia with its vast archipelago. HSC claims that more 40 percent of all operational commercial satellites in orbit today were built by the company.
The association between Indonesia and HSC started in 1975, when HSC began the Palapa-A satellite program after winning the Indonesian government's contracts for the construction of two spacecraft, control and earth stations.
The Palapa-A, the HS-333 type, was a 12-transponder satellite with an average capacity of 6,000 voice circuits or 12 simultaneous color television channels or any combination of the two.
The seven-year-life satellite was 11-feet, two-inches high (including antenna) and six-feet three-inches in diameter. The shaped-beam antenna was a solar transparent five-foot parabolic dish.
Meanwhile, the Palapa-B satellite, the HS-376 model, has two telescoping cylindrical solar panels and an antenna that folds for compactness during launch. The antenna is erected and the outer solar panel extended after the satellite is in orbit.
The 24 transponders on the spacecraft are each capable of carrying 1,000 two-way voice circuits or a color television transmission. In addition, the Palapa-B satellite carries six spare traveling-wave tube amplifiers, providing a five-to-four redundancy.
The Palapa-B satellites operate in the C-band, receiving from 5.92 GHz to 6.41 GHz and transmitting from 3.7 GHz to 4.4 GHz. The satellites use 10-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers.
The Palapa-C, the third generation of the country's satellite system, is superior to the earlier Palapa-A and Palapa-B series in terms of coverage, power and flexibility.
Meanwhile, each of the Palapa-C spacecraft, another version of the HS-601 body-stabilized satellite, has 34 transponders, including 24 of C-band, six of extended C-band and four of Ku- band.
Southeast Asia
The Palapa-C, with a lifespan of about 14 years (plus two years in inclined orbit), will cover not only Indonesia but also Southeast Asia, parts of China, India and Japan. With the Pacific Rim as its center, the Palapa-C1 coverage extends westward from Iran to Vladivostok and Southward to Sydney and New Zealand.
All transponders of the Palapa-C1 have been booked by 26 parties, mostly television broadcasters, from eight nations. The lessees of Palapa-C1, who have to pay leasing fees ranging between US$1.6 million and $3 million per year for one transponder, include the American news channel CNN, the ESPN sports station, and entertainment networks HBO, Viacom and Discovery, Asia Business News, NBC Asia, Canal France International and Turner Far East Asia. The other users are from Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia's state-owned television network, Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI), the country's five private television networks and the Ministry of Defense are also on the list.
Satelindo, the Palapa-C series owner and operator, is likely to earn US$60 million per year if all of the 30 C-band transponders are leased under long-term contracts. The Palapa-C1, expected to operate until 2010, is worth about $190 million.
Apart from the Palapa-C1's lessees, Satelindo expects telecommunications providers to lease the Palapa-C2 for its derivative services of data, voice, image and video transmissions.
Satelindo also plans to adopt the digital compression television system, the next wave in technology.
The number of satellite operators in the Asia-Pacific region has increased significantly in the last few years, creating a stiff rivalry.
In addition to the Palapa-C series in the Asia-Pacific, there are Intelsat, AsiaSat, Apstar and Panamsat, Optus and JCsat satellites. The names are, so far, the major players in the regional market for broadcasting.
In the 1995-2005 period, 40 satellites will be launched as replacements and more than 50 more will be launched as extensions of existing systems.
By early next year, there will be 1,680 communications satellite transponders available in the Asia-Pacific region. The number of transponders will reach 2,360 in the following three years.
Meanwhile, the load factor of each satellite provider in the region reached 90 percent in 1995, with fewer figures for several operators due to higher leasing fees.
The margin between transponder demand and supply will range next year between 26 percent and 32 percent. Meanwhile, the demand for transponders is expected to increase in 2000, when more users will look for additional transponders and more efficient digital compression. The country's Palapa-B and C satellites will offer about 134 transponders in 2000.