Thales Alenia Space is looking for a way out to send the Satria-1 satellite to the United States (US). This is because the Indonesian satellite was originally to be transported using the world's largest cargo plane, the Antonov AN-225, which was attacked by Russia when it invaded Ukraine.
The Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (Bakti) of the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) and PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga, continue to coordinate with Thales Alenia Space regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"The war between Ukraine and Russia has had an impact on this project (Satria-1), especially with the transportation plan to take it from the manufacturer Thales Alenia Space in France to the launch site in America, because it uses rockets from SpaceX," said Bakti Kominfo president director. , Anang Latif was met in Jakarta, Friday (11/3/2022).
"Antonov is an aircraft with a large capacity that usually carries large items, one of which is a satellite. The information is bombed. Of course, the supply of this Antonov has decreased, so the potential to affect this project exists," he added.
Anang said that Thales Alenia Space was investigating whether the incident had an impact on the Satria-1 satellite project.
"So, we don't have any official information from Thales whether there will be a potential delay," he said.
However, the French aerospace company is exploring the availability of available transportation to bring the Satria-1 satellite from France to the United States.
So far, the Satria-1 satellite launch schedule has not yet been established, the launch plan is carried out in mid-2023 and is targeted to be operational in November of the same year.
"Until now it's still the same, still on schedule," he concluded.
Currently, the process of assembling the Satria-1 satellite by Thales Alenia Space has reached almost 70%. The Satria-1 satellite is assembled in three locations, namely Toulouse, Belfast and Cannes. This internet satellite consists of four levels with different production locations for each part.
The government will rely on the Satria-1 satellite in order to accelerate the development of Indonesia's digital infrastructure, including in Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost (3T) and Border areas.
The Satria-1 satellite which has a capacity of 150 Gbps will support the deployment of internet service access at 150 thousand points of public service locations.
Meanwhile, the Satria-1 satellite, which is considered new, complex and complex, allows for risks, either anomalies during launch or when operating. For that, as a form of mitigation, Kominfo conducted a Hot Backup Satellite (HBS) tender and today the Nusantara Jaya Partnership is the winner.