Southeast Asia’s First Satellite
A brief history of Indonesia’s Palapa System
Centuries ago, Gadjah Mada once vowed to not indulge in earthly delights before he could unite the entire Nusantara archipelago under Majapahit’s rule. In 1976, the New Order government of Indonesia fulfilled his dream by “uniting” the archipelago with Southeast Asia’s first satellite communications system, named after his famous Palapa Oath.
The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War caught the world’s attention, as the two superpowers’ ambitions to outperform their adversary in every field possible, including the conquest of space, drove them to develop technology that mankind once could only dream about.
The Soviets were the first ones to make the great leap beyond Earth’s atmosphere when they successfully launched humanity’s first-ever satellite, the Sputnik-1, in 1957. The Americans were still caught off-guard by their counterparts’ advancements when the USSR sent the first man into space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Eventually, the USA managed to catch up and grabbed their own prestigious title, the first landing on the Moon by sending the Apollo 11 spacecraft in 1969. Since then and through much of the 1970s, there was a period of détente — the “relaxation” of relations between them— when they jointly agreed to limit the ongoing arms and tech race to reduce global tension.
For around a decade, spacecraft technology was only available to the two competing superpowers. However, as time went on, more and more countries began to pursue their own space programmes for research and/or communications, including a certain archipelagic nation in Southeast Asia.
A Developing Nation
At that time, the Republic of Indonesia had a population of approximately 130 million people, spread across the entire Nusantara archipelago, which was made up of around 17.000 islands. Although politically united, the country was geographically separated by sea, a major obstacle in national development. Furthermore, even though overall economic growth was impressive at over 7%, the imbalance between the islands was also clearly visible. Communications infrastructure was mostly concentrated on Java island, which was (and currently still is) the most populous of all Indonesian islands.
It was therefore decided by then-President Suharto, government officials, and academics that a technological effort must be made to improve Indonesia’s interconnectivity and provide a dependable telecommunications infrastructure if it were not to lag behind other countries’ growth. That vision was manifested in a national-level project called the Domestic Satellite Communications System (Sistem Komunikasi Satelit Domestik, SKSD) assigned to the state-owned telecommunications company, Perumtel, that would later evolve into PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia or Telkom.
The satellite was named Palapa A1, inspired by the famous oath taken by the renowned mahapatih (prime minister) of the Majapahit Empire, Gadjah Mada, in the 14th century. According to the Javanese manuscript Pararaton, he had vowed to not taste “palapa” (an Old Javanese word, believed by many historians to mean “coconut” or coconut-based spices) before he could successfully unite the thousands of islands all across the Nusantara archipelago under Majapahit’s banner. Therefore, through the launching of this satellite system, the New Order government hoped that the vast collection of islands could be united — not just politically, but digitally as well.
It all seemed impossible at first. In the 1970s, Indonesia was still undergoing a regime change after Sukarno’s “guided democracy” regime was toppled a few years earlier and Suharto installed the New Order government. The fledgling republic was still plagued by a myriad of economic problems, and the technology and brainpower to successfully launch — let alone operate — artificial satellites were still possessed only by the world’s two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Additionally, several academicians noted the negative potential impact of the technology on society and culture, particularly the effects satellite television could have on local cultures in rural populations in Indonesia. All in all, the entire project seemed too ambitious for such a developing nation.
However, president Suharto’s verdict still stands. “If using a satellite is necessary, then go ahead, study the possibilities,” he said, as written in Sejarah Telekomunikasi Indonesia (2006).
Laying the Foundations
The General Directorate of Post and Telecommunications along with Perumtel thus began working on plans for Palapa. The groundwork had already been laid several years earlier on September 1969, when the Jatiluhur Earth Station was inaugurated by President Suharto, in cooperation with the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) Corporation who was responsible for the station’s construction. Then on July 1974, a contract of cooperation was signed with Hughes Aircraft Company based in the United States. The agreement covered regulations regarding system engineering, satellite design, and administrative assistance.
Palapa A1’s antenna was specifically designed and built to be able to concentrate its signal strength throughout the Indonesian archipelago, especially its main islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua, as well as several neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The spacecraft would link 40 Earth-based stations in the Indonesian archipelago at points up to five thousand kilometres apart.
The project’s first generation costed a total of US$ 161 million. Several loans were provided by American banks that covered nearly the entire amount, while the remaining several hundred thousand dollars was paid for by the Indonesian government. Considering the mid- to long-term benefits of not having to rely on foreign satellite systems for domestic communication purposes, Palapa was worth the price. To ensure the launching of the satellite, a Memorandum of Understanding was then signed in March 1975 between the Indonesian government and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The memorandum was strengthened by the exchange of diplomatic notes between the two nations.
The Launch
After being constructed by Hughes engineers, Palapa A1 was then transported to NASA’s premier Kennedy Space Center located in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite was launched on the Delta 2914 rocket on 7:31PM, 9 July 1976 Florida time. Twenty-six minutes later, the satellite was already travelling at a speed of 35.000 kilometres per hour. Overall, the launch procedure was deemed successful and Palapa A1 entered its designated orbit slot on 12 July. President Suharto himself watched the launching process via television from Jakarta.
On 16 August 1976, to commemorate the 31st anniversary of Indonesia’s proclamation of independence, the domestic communications satellite system was officially inaugurated by President Suharto by unveiling and signing a plaque in the House of Parliament, Jakarta. Via the Palapa system, the president had also made a telephone call to the Governor of Aceh Province, Muzakir Walad, and the Governor of Irian Jaya Province, Soetran. Both of them represented the most far-western and far-eastern points of Indonesia, and this simple phone call symbolically showed that Palapa had achieved its intended goal of uniting the vast country. Service via the satellite was begun by Perumtel on the following day on 17 August.
Indonesia thus became the first developing country to launch into orbit a fully-operational telecommunications satellite (India had launched their Aryabhata one year earlier in 1975, but it was solely for research and experimental purposes). Back then, only three other countries in the world operated similar satellite systems: the United States, the Soviet Union, and Canada. Besides electronically linking the archipelago from Sabang in the far west to Merauke in the far east with high quality point-to-point communications, the Palapa A1 undoubtedly became a source of national pride for the Indonesian nation.
Palapa A1 — supported by its backup, the Palapa A2, which was launched in March 1977 — loyally served Indonesia for around seven years, until it was phased out in 1983 and replaced by the project’s next generation, Palapa B1.
References
Direktorat Jenderal Pos dan Telekomunikasi. (1984). Mengenang Sewindu SKSD Palapa. Departemen Pariwisata RI.
Ibrahim, M. D. (2005). Planning and Development of Indonesia’s Domestic Satellite Communications System Palapa. Online Journal of Space Communication, 8, 1–26. https://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue8/his_marwah1.html
Matanasi, P. (2020, July 12). Sejarah Satelit Palapa: “Mainan” Soeharto & Kebanggaan Orde Baru. Tirto. https://tirto.id/sejarah-satelit-palapa-mainan-soeharto-kebanggaan-orde-baru-cQh4
Matignon, L. D. G. (2019, September 26). Palapa A1, the first Indonesian satellite. Space Legal Issues. https://www.spacelegalissues.com/palapa-a1-the-first-indonesian-satellite/
Museum Telekomunikasi. (2006). Sejarah Telekomunikasi Indonesia. Museum Telekomunikasi.
NASA. (n.d.). Palapa Program. Mission and Spacecraft Library. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://space.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/Programs/palapa.html
Nugraha, D. (2009, September). Sistem Komunikasi Satelit PT. Indosat Stasiun Bumi Jatiluhur. Universitas Komputer Indonesia. https://123dok.com/document/eqopdo7z-sistem-komunikasi-satelit-pt-indosat-tbk-persero.html
Palapa A1 (Indonesia): The first satellite in Southeast Asia. (2019, June 6). ASEAN Records World. http://aseanrecords.world/news/asean-records/palapa-a1-indonesia-the-first-satellite-in-southeast-asia
Raditya, I. N. (2019, February 22). Sejarah Peluncuran Satelit Palapa Pertama Tahun 1976. Tirto. https://tirto.id/sejarah-peluncuran-satelit-palapa-pertama-tahun-1976-dhBj
Redd, N. T. (2018, October 12). Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space. Space. https://www.space.com/16159-first-man-in-space.html
Telkom Indonesia. (n.d.). A Brief History of Telkom Satellites. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.thejakartapost.com/longforms/longform-telkom/
