Palapa

Palapa is a series of geostationary communication satellites, Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunication company.

History

The program was launched in February 1975 to open up the 13,000 islands of the state completely newsworthy and supplied with telephone, television and data services. So the orbital positions should be backed up. In addition, the system for meteorological purposes and for civil aviation is used. The Government of Indonesia agreed to this time with Hughes (now Boeing Satellite Systems ) the delivery of the first two satellites Palapa 1A and 1B. The name Palapa was chosen by president Suharto and means' fruits of labor. " The name Palapa also alludes to " SUMPAH Palapa " the oath of Gajah Mada, a king of the Javanese Majapahit Empire in the 14th century from the Para Raton (Book of Kings). Gajah Mada swore that he would not taste any spice, as long as it had not succeeded to some Nusantara ( the Indonesian archipelago ). By referring to this ancient oath of the Palapa satellite series was also associated with the modern version of the idea of ​​reunification of Indonesia.

The first satellite was launched on July 9, 1976, and placed in a position of 77 ° east longitude. He had to transfer 12 transponders that allowed about 5,000 telephone calls or 12 TV programs to the at that time 40 ground stations. The system was officially put into operation on 16 August 1976 and since 1979 also a use is on a rental basis by other Asian countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. 1983 followed with Palapa 2A, the first satellite of the next generation. The most famous satellite of the series is Palapa B2, which was exposed with the Space Shuttle, but did not reach the planned orbit and was recovered in a second shuttle mission.

The Palapa satellites were from the state-owned telecommunications company Perusahaan Umum Telekomunikasi ( " Perumtel owner"), which was renamed Telkom Indonesia 1991. The deregulation of the Indonesian Telekommunikationsmarkst led to the founding of the company PT satellite Palapa Indonesia ( Satelindo ), which was also the Telkom had shares. The satellite Palapa B2P and its customers were handed over to Satelindo, Palapa B2R and Palapa B4 remained with Telkom.

Satellite fleet

In addition, two satellites of the TELKOM - series are operated, which were launched from Guiana Space Centre with Ariane rocket on 21 August 1999, on 2 November 2005.