Palapa-C2 was an Indonesian

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

which reached its target orbit on 16 May 1996. It was built by

Hughes Space and Communications Company Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

(now

Boeing Satellite Development Center The Boeing Satellite Development Center is a major business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It brought together Boeing satellite operations with that of GM Hughes Electronics' Space and Communications division in El Segundo, Califo ...

) for Indonesian telecommunications provider PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (SATELINDO). It was based on the

HS-601 The Boeing 601 (sometimes referred to as the BSS-601, and previously as the HS-601) is a communications satellite satellite bus, bus designed in 1985 and introduced in 1987 by Boeing Satellite Development Center, Hughes Space and Communications C ...

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...

and had 30 C-band

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

and 4

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

transponders. It was due to be located in

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

at 113° East above the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

. It operated for more than 20 years, more than five years past the designed life time of 15 years, making it the longest operation among the Indonesian fleet of communications satellites.

Satellite description

PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (SATELINDO) chose Hughes in April 1993, together with identical sister satellite, the Palapa-C1. It is a HS-601 satellite bus. Construction was done at

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 16,731 as of th ...

. Hughes also set up the new master control station at Daan Mogot City near

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

. The R-4D-11-300 liquid apogee engine of the satellite then raised it to geostationary orbit.

Launch

Palapa-C2 was launched along with Amos-1 by a Ariane 44L H10-3 launch vehicle on 16 May 1996 at 01:56:29 UTC. The satellites were launched from Centre Spatial Guyanais at

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. Launch was insured for over US$200 million.

PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara

Six transponders were owned by PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara.

Palapa-E

PT Indosat Tbk selected in May 2013

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

(OSC) (now

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

) to build and launch the Palapa-E satellite. Palapa-E was to replace the Palapa-C2 satellite. Palapa-E was to be based on Orbital's

GEOStar-2 The STAR-2 Bus is a fully redundant, flight-proven, spacecraft bus designed for geosynchronous missions. It is a satellite platform, designed and developed by Thomas van der Heyden for the Indonesian Cakrawarta satellite program in the early 19 ...

satellite bus.

Indosat PT Indosat Tbk, trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, is a telecommunications provider in Indonesia which is owned by Ooredoo Hutchison Asia, a joint venture between Ooredoo and Hutchison Asia Telecom Group (a part of CK Hutchison Holdings) sinc ...

cancelled contract to build Palapa-E after losing the operating rights to the 150.5° East orbital position to state-owned

Bank Rakyat Indonesia PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk ( 'Indonesian People's Bank', commonly known as BRI) is one of the largest banks in Indonesia. It specialises in small scale and microfinance style borrowing from and lending to its approximately 30 mill ...

(BRI).

References

{{Indonesian Space Program Communications satellites Communications in Indonesia Satellites of Indonesia Spacecraft launched in 1996 Ariane commercial payloads 1996 in Indonesia