RI and Israeli satellites on same rocket
RI and Israeli satellites on same rocket
JAKARTA (JP): The Palapa-C2 satellite of Indonesia will blast off into orbit from Kourou, French Guiana, in May together with Amos, a communications satellite owned by the Israeli Aircraft Industry.
The two satellites are scheduled to be placed in the same payload of the Ariane 4 rocket, a launch vehicle of the France- based commercial space transportation firm Arianespace.
Arianespace's mission manager, Eckard Weinrich, told reporters here yesterday that the liftoff of the two orbiters were scheduled on flight 86 on May 15.
"The Palapa-C2 satellite, whose weight at launch is about 3,000 kilograms, will be placed in the top part of the loading bay, and Amos, weighing about 1,100 kilograms, in the lower part," Weinrich said, adding that both satellites would operate in a geo-stationary orbit.
PT Satelindo, a private telecommunications firm which owns and operates the Palapa-C satellite, had the Palapa-C1, its first commercial satellite, put into orbit on Jan. 31 by Atlas IIAS rocket of Lockheed Martin of the United States.
Satelindo selected Lockheed Martin because Arianespace, which had originally won a tender to launch Palapa-C1, delayed the launching schedules of several satellites, including Palapa-C1, in 1995 after the company failed at two launchings in 1994. Arianespace, owned by dozens of European parties, should have launched the first Palapa-C generation on its original schedule in late 1995.
Meanwhile, the timing of the Palapa-C1 launching was vital because it had to replace the Palapa B-2P satellite which was scheduled to end operations last December.
Weinrich said yesterday if his company had been able to launch the Palapa-C1 according to its original schedule in late 1995, the Indonesian spacecraft would have been launched with Measat-1 of Malaysia.
He said that Measat-1 was placed into orbit on Jan. 13 together with PanAmSat-3R of the United States.
Cooperation
He said that because the Indonesian and Israeli satellites will be launched together, flight 86 will require Indonesian and Israeli officials and executives to cooperate in the launch mission center in Kourou.
Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
"This is business," Weinrich pointed out.
He said that it would be the first time for Arianespace to launch both Indonesian and Israeli satellites.
A spokesman for Satelindo, Eddy Thoyib, said yesterday that his company would not hold a party even if the launching of the Palapa-C2 was successful.
Arianespace's director of sales and marketing, Philippe Berterottiere, said that the launch of Palapa-C2 will cost US$83.5 million.
Satelindo's general manager of marketing, Retno Setyowati Renggana, said her company was targeting telecommunications firms to lease Palapa-C2's transponders.
The current subscribers of Palapa-C1, who are former lessees of the Palapa B-2P satellite, are broadcasting firms operating within the satellite's area of coverage which includes Hong Kong, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Macau, New Zealand and Australia.
Retno said that transponder leasing fees in international markets currently range between $2 million and $4 million per year for one transponder.
The Palapa-C1 works at 113 degrees east longitude and the Palapa-C2 at 108 degrees east longitude. (icn)