Telkom-3 is 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 failed to reach its target orbit due to a launch failure on 6 August 2012. It was built by
ISS Reshetnev
JSC Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev (russian: Информационные спутниковые системы имени академика М. Ф. Решетнёва, Informatsionnye sputnikovye systemy imeny akademika M. F. Reshetnyov ...
for Indonesian telecommunications provider
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia
PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, also simply known as Telkom, is an Indonesian multinational telecommunications conglomerate. Telkom is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The ...
. It was based on the
Ekspress-1000H bus and had 32
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 16
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 118° 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 ...
.
The satellite reentered the atmosphere and was destroyed on 5 February 2021.
Launch
Telkom-3 was launched along with
Ekspress-MD2
Ekspress-MD2 is a Russian communications satellite which was lost due to a launch failure on 6 August 2012. Equipped with eight C-band transponders and 1 L-band transponder, it was intended to be located in geostationary orbit at a longitude o ...
by a
Proton-M
The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kaz ...
rocket with
Briz-M
The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on ...
upper stage on 6 August 2012 at 19:31:00
UTC. The satellites were launched from
Site 81/24 at
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...
in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. The first three stages of the Proton launched worked as expected and the satellites were attached to the Briz-M upper stage which would transfer them into geosynchronous orbit. The Briz-M undertakes a series of four burns with coasting stages to do this. The third burn was due to be 18 minutes long but the engines cut out after 7 seconds, leaving the satellites in an unusable orbit.
of 266 x 5015 km x 49.9°.
Telkom-3 manufacturer ISS Reshetnev announced that the satellite was under control with its
solar panels
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...
extended but would not be able to be used for its intended purpose as it was in the wrong orbit.
Investigation
![Ground track telkom 3 oct 12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Ground_track_telkom_3_oct_12.jpg)
This was the second launch failure caused by a Briz-M within twelve months as
Ekspress-AM4
Ekspress-AM4 was a Russian communications satellite placed into the wrong orbit from a faulty Briz-M rocket stage. This satellite was to be part of the Ekspress series of geostationary communications satellites owned by Russian Satellite Commu ...
was lost in August 2011 due to a computer error.
Other recent launch failures included three
GLONASS
GLONASS (russian: ГЛОНАСС, label=none, ; rus, links=no, Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, r=Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, t=Global Navigation Satellite System) is ...
satellites in 2011 and Mars probe
Fobos-Grunt
Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (russian: link=no, Фобос-Грунт, where ''грунт'' refers to the ''ground'' in the narrow geological meaning of any type of soil or rock exposed on the surface) was an attempted Russian sample return mis ...
. All Proton-M launches were suspended and all Briz-M stages were recalled. This triggered discussion on the crisis in the Russian space industry with Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
quoted as saying "We are losing authority and billions of rubles" due to the frequent launch failures. Medvedev chaired a meeting on the issue on 14 August 2012 and President Vladimir Putin had a meeting on organisational issues. One of the suggestions is that
Roscosmos
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
could be transformed into a corporation similar to
Rosatom
Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...
.
![Putin, Rogozin, Popovkin august 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Putin%2C_Rogozin%2C_Popovkin_august_2012.jpeg)
An investigation was set up by Roscosmos head
Vladimir Popovkin
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Popovkin (russian: Владимир Александрович Поповкин; 25 September 1957 – 18 June 2014) was the General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency and former First Deputy Defense Minister of R ...
and was headed by O.P. Skorobogatov from
TsNIIMash
TsNIIMash (russian: ЦНИИмаш) is a Russian rocket and spacecraft scientific center, dealing with all phases of development from conceptual design to flight test. The Institute is the main analytical center of Roskosmos in the field of syste ...
. It was reported in early August 2012 by Russian newspaper
Kommersant
''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...
that the failure was caused by a fault in the fuel pipe in the Briz-M. The Khrunichev Failure Review Oversight Board found that it was caused by a faulty component in the pressurisation system.
On 16 October 2012, the Briz-M exploded into eighty pieces.
The director general of
Khrunichev
The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (''Государственный космический научно-производственный центр (ГКНПЦ) имени М. В. Хру́ничева'' in Russian) is a ...
, Vladimir Nesterov, was dismissed from his post by President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
.
The Proton-M returned to flight on 14 October 2012, carrying
Intelsat 23. It had been postponed from August 2012 due to the launch failure.
Telkom-3S
The replacement satellite, named
Telkom-3S, was contract awarded to its satellite competitor,
Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufacture ...
on 28 July 2014. Telkom-3S was launched from the
Centre Spatial Guyanais
The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...
on 14 February 2017 and commissioned into service on 17 April 2017.
Return and reentry
In early 2021, concerns arose about the imminent reentry of Telkom-3 to the
Atmosphere of Earth
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
after over eight years in orbit. The
National Institute of Aeronautics and Space
National Institute of Aeronautics and Space ( id, Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional, LAPAN) was the Indonesian government space agency. It was established on November 27, 1963, by former Indonesian president Sukarno after one year's ...
(LAPAN) reported that they started an intensive study of the reentry since mid-January 2021. By 1 January 2021, the satellite's orbit had decayed to 217 x 555 km x 49.9°.
The
orbital inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Earth ...
of 49.9° meant that it could reenter anywhere between latitude 49.9° North and 49.9° South, and it was calculated to have a 1:140000 casualty risk. The satellite's orbit was tracked by U.S. radars throughout its time in orbit, and
Space-Track reported
that it reentered between 09:26 and 09:42
UTC on 5 February 2021, somewhere on an arc from Kazakhstan through southern
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and northern China. The Indonesian government reported that although Telkom-3 had returned to Earth's surface, the exact location was unknown and there were no reports of debris being found.
References
{{Indonesian Space Program
Communications satellites
Communications in Indonesia
Satellites of Indonesia
Satellites using the Ekspress bus
Spacecraft launched in 2012
Satellite launch failures
Spacecraft launched by Proton rockets
2012 in Indonesia