Telkom-1 satellite gets go-ahead for launch

Telkom-1 satellite gets go-ahead for launch

By Christiani Tumelap

KOUROU, French Guiana (JP): After a four-month delay, the
Telkom-1 satellite owned by state telecommunications firm PT
Telkom will be launched from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou,
French Guiana on August 4.

In addition to the delay, there was also a significant change
to the launching plan.

The French space launch firm, Arianespace, said Telkom-1 would
not be launched together with the Asiastar satellite of the
United States' Worldspace on Arianespace's most advanced and
powerful Ariane 504 rocket as initially planned.

Arianespace launch mission director Didier Casse said Telkom-1
would instead be launched alone on the Ariane 42P rocket, a
rocket developed earlier with a lower payload capacity designed
to carry small and medium-sized satellites.

He said the decision to switch to Ariane 4 was made because
Asiastar was again delayed from launching due to technical
problems in its solar panel system.

"The switch, however, will not in any way affect the quality
of launch services as promised by Arianespace from the
beginning," he announced during a media visit to the launch site
in Kourou last week.

The original contract, signed in April 1997, required the
launching of Telkom-1 satellite on an Ariane 504 rocket in April
this year from the company's launch site at Europe's Spaceport in
Kourou.

Arianespace's director of customer service, Baard Eilertsen,
insisted Ariane 4's quality and capability was nothing to worry
about.

He said the Ariane 4 generation rockets had proved their
reliability with 44 consecutive successful launches since March
1995.

Ariane 4 rockets were recently named by the AIRCLAIMS
international research organization as the most reliable launch
vehicle, he said.

"Ariane 4 was ranked first in launch reliability with the
highest score of 0.972 percent, followed by U.S. rockets Delta II
with 0.965 percent, Atlas 0.937 percent and Proton 0.941
percent," he said.

Telkom's field office manager for the Telkom-1 satellite
project in Kourou, Dodiet Hendrojono, said the company had no
objection toward the switch to Ariane 4.

He said the switch was the best option since it would
facilitate the Telkom-1 launching immediately without having to
wait for a co-passenger.

"We are very much in favor of this plan because we can't
tolerate any more delays in the launch schedule," he said, adding
that Telkom-1 was actually ready for launch since January after
its completion of manufacturing by the American company Lockheed
Martin.

"Besides, Arianespace will face a penalty if Telkom-1 was
launched after August this year," he said.

Dodiet added the switch in launch vehicle from Ariane 5 to
Ariane 4 would not affect the payload in the contract between
Telkom and Arianespace.

"The contract originally requires either the Ariane 5 or
Ariane 4 rocket for launching. Ariane 5 was chosen at the time
because of its immediate availability," he said.

Alexandre Mademba-Sy, an Arianespace engineer, said at the
launch operations division that Ariane 5 was technically more
sophisticated than Ariane 4.

"Ariane 5 is originally more simple and reliable. It is also
more powerful in that it can send a bigger satellite higher into
orbit," he said.

Ariane 5 has a payload capacity into geostationary transfer
orbit of 5.9 metric tons to 6.9 tons, while Ariane 4 has between
2.07 tons and 4.9 tons.

"The manufacturing and operational costs of Ariane 5 are also
higher than Ariane 4. But it will be cheaper for customers to use
Ariane 5 because they don't have to pay it all by themselves, but
share it equally with co-passengers," he added.

Alexandre said either Ariane 5 or Ariane 4 would send Telkom-1
to the same designated spot in orbit with the same procedures
despite technical differences.

Dodiet said Telkom-1 was expected to start commercial
operations in September to cover countries in the Southeast Asian
region, as well as northern Australia.

The Telkom-1 satellite project is worth about US$191.4
million, which consists of $84.8 million for the satellite's
procurement from Lockheed Martin, $90.1 million for the launch
contract with Arianespace, $15 million for an insurance package
with local firm Jasindo and $1.6 million for consultancy services
with Canadian firm Telesat.

The satellite, weighing 2,655 kilograms at liftoff and
carrying 24 C Band transponders and 12 Extended C Band
transponders, will be the third Indonesian satellite launched by
Arianespace, after the Palapa C2 in May 1996 and Cakrawarta in
November 1997.

The satellite is specially developed to replace another Telkom
satellite currently in orbit, the Palapa-B2R, which is due to end
service in mid-2001.

Telkom-1 will provide various telecommunications services,
including multimedia and high-speed internet, satellite telephony
network, backbone transmission and analog or digital broadcasts
for 20 years.

Dodiet said Telkom-1 was originally designed to serve 15 years
under the previous Ariane 504 bi-satellite launch arrangement.

But since Telkom-1 will be the only satellite to be carried on
the Ariane 42P rocket, it can fill its fuel to the maximum level
of 400,000 kilograms to extend its period of service.

"So you see, the switch from Ariane 540 to Ariane 42P was not
a bad thing after all. It gives us an advantage, too," he said.
(cst)