SpaceX plans to launch its fifteenth mission this 12 months on Tuesday, August 7. Like several successful flights in 2018, this week’s launch is meant to send a communications satellite into orbit.
The payload of this flight is the geostationary communications satellite Merah Putih. Formerly referred to as Telkom-4, it was built by SSL. Once in orbit and checking various systems, PT Telkom Indonesia will manage the satellite’s operations. PT Telkom Indonesia Indonesia is the biggest provider of telecommunications and network services in Indonesia.
Designed to switch the Telkom-1 satellite, the name Merah Putih reflects the red and white flag of Indonesia. Once incorporated into the Telkom network, it is predicted that it can serve 17,000 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago. However, its scope and reach should not limited to Indonesia. South and Southeast Asia could also profit from the satellite’s deployment.
“Two American companies are involved in the construction of the red and white satellite, namely SSL as the satellite manufacturer and SpaceX as the provider of satellite launch services. SSL is a leading satellite manufacturer and successfully completed the Merah Putih satellite ahead of schedule. Moreover, the red and white satellite will be launched towards its orbital slot using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket,” Telkom’s vp of corporate communications, Arif Prabowo, told industry.co.id.
Merah Putih is meant to be only one element of a network geared toward opening latest telephone and web markets. Telkom Indonesia will need this addition to its fleet to supply services to the greater than 130 million consumers using the corporate’s network.
Based on the SSL-1300 satellite platform, Merah Putih is supplied with 60 C-band transponders. Thirty-six of them might be used to supply services to Southeast Asian markets, while the remaining might be used for the Indian market.
Merah Putih is meant to switch the Telkom-1 spacecraft (which was launched on August 4, 1999) at 108°E.
“Satellite plays a critical role in our telecommunications infrastructure,” Zulhelfi Abidin, Telkom’s chief technology officer, said in a press release published on Cision PR Newswire. “SSL is an excellent spacecraft supplier and completed the satellite ahead of schedule. We look forward to traveling to Florida to see the satellite launch later this summer.”
If the Merah Putih flight is successful, the variety of SpaceX launches in 2018 will reach 15. That’s more launches than the Hawthorne, California-based company conducted between 2010 and 2014 (LatestSpace conducted 14 launches in those years) combined. In fact, in 2018, SpaceX launched almost 1 / 4 of the missions flown because the first Falcon 9 rocket launched on June 4, 2010.
As for the upcoming Merah Putih mission, Falcon 9 Block 5 will use the B1046.2 first stage, which was first used to send the Bangabandhu-1 satellite into orbit on May 11, 2018.
As with the previous mission, Iridium NEXT Flight 7 on July 25 (from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California), roughly 14 first stages were launched, recovered, refurbished and re-serviced.
Tuesday’s flight is scheduled to take off into Florida skies at 1:18 a.m. ET (05:18 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Station in Florida.
Source: http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/merah-putih-poised-to-bring-spacexs-launch-tempo-to-almost-two-per-month/#UaDTZORX2JImBTyK.99
