Use SpaceX's Artificial Rocket, Satria's Satellite Will Launch In 2023

Satellite illustration (doc. Indosat Ooredoo)

JAKARTA - The Republic of Indonesia Satellite (Satria) is planned to be launched soon in 2023. The launch of this satellite will use Elon Musk's SpaceX, an artificial Falcon 9 booster rocket.

Launching from Antara, the Minister of Communication and Informatics (Menkominfo) Johnny G Plate said that the launch of the satellite was related to the government's efforts to improve infrastructure development in the middle stage, middle mile network.

"In 2023, we hope that Indonesia will launch a multi-functional satellite, High Throuput Satellite, Satria, to complement the five national satellites and four foreign satellites currently in use," said Johnny, in an online seminar "Encouraging Digital Transformation Acceleration" held by Kominfo. .

Furthermore, Johnny said, this satellite is expected to reach at least around 150,000 public service points that currently do not have or do not have adequate internet access.

President Director of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo), Anang Latif, said that in its launch, the Satria satellite will use a rocket launcher from SpaceX.

"Because this is a satellite, we also choose the manufacturer for the launch satellite, using the SpaceX satellite, a satellite company owned by Elon Musk," said Anang, on the same occasion.

In addition, Anang said that he has collaborated with a partner for the Satria satellite manufacturer, namely a company engaged in the space vehicle industry from France, Thales Alenia Space.

Furthermore, Anang explained that the Satria satellite uses the concept of Public Private Partnership (PPP), in which the Ministry of Communication and Information appoints partners to find funding. This scheme is different from other projects, where the state prepares the financing directly.

Satria's satellite funding comes from France and China, each with 50 percent. Discussions about funding with the two countries, according to Anang, were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Now it is starting to run again, so it will take a few more rounds for later, especially France, to be endorsed by the French government, so that later the administration will be completed," said Anang.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/Tn1kU6LtkB

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2020

"The hope is that in the third quarter the financing process can be completed," Anang added.

For information, Satria satellites were built by PT Satelit Nusantara 3 with financing reaching Rp. 6.4 trillion. This satellite also has a capacity of 150 gigabytes per second, which means 6 times the capacity of existing satellites in Indonesia

The Satria satellite has begun construction at the end of 2019 and is expected to slide into the orbit slot in 2022. Later Satria will be projected to support communication networks for 93,900 schools, 47,900 regional government offices, 3,700 community health centers, and 3,900 police and TNI headquarters that are difficult to reach by optical cable.