RI satellites safe from meteor shower: Telkom

BANDUNG (JP): State-run telecommunications company PT Telkom assured on Tuesday that approaching meteor rain known as the Leonid Shower would not affect its satellites.

Telkom's vice president of communications Dodi Amarudien said recent analysis confirmed that the meteor shower would not enter the area where the three satellites are located.

"Telkom does not have a special team to safeguard the satellites, but our officers at the Satellite Main Control Station in Cibinong will be ready 24 hours to monitor Leonid," he said.

He said if the meteor shower hit the satellites, the data and voice transmission activities would be transferred to a terrestrial system.

The Leonid Shower is expected to take place between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21.

An astronomy expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Moedji Raharto, said studies indicated that the meteor rain would mainly occur above the Middle East.

All Indonesian satellites in orbit -- Telkom's Telkom-1, Palapa B2R and Palapa B4, Satelindo's Palapa C1 and Palapa C2, and Datakom Asia's Cakrawarta -- are located directly above Indonesia air space, he said.

Telkom-1 and Palapa B2R, which were launched in August this year and April 1990 respectively, are operating at an orbital location of 108.0 degrees east. Palapa B4, launched in May 1992, is operating at 118 degrees east.

Moedji recommended satellite operators take precautions and anticipate any possible accidents.

He said accidents could easily occur if the satellite moved away from its designated location.

"It is very difficult to avoid the meteor shower when a satellite is within the shower affected area because we can't easily direct the angle and position of the satellite as such maneuvers would affect the satellite's function."

Moedji said the meteor shower, which in the case of Leonid Shower would take the form of mainly small particles, would damage any satellite in the meteor shower's way. He said a satellite's optical devices, solar panel, censor system and antenna, would be particularly vulnerable to damage because the particles moved at a very high speed. (43/cst)