SpaceX Falcon 9 - Merah Putih (Telkom-4)

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - Merah Putih (Telkom-4) - Launching August 7, 2018

Screenshot of Tim Dodd hosting SpaceX Falcon 9 launching Merah Putih (Telkom-4)

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 - Merah Putih

Written: January 12, 2021

Lift Off Time	August 7, 2019 05:18 UTC Universal Time Coordinated August 7, 2019 01:18 EDT Eastern Daylight Time
Mission Name	Merah Putih (Telkom-4)
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	Telkom Indonesia
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 5 serial number B1046-2
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC-40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Base - CCAFB, Florida.
Payload	SSL 1300 Communications Satellite
Payload mass	5 800 kg ~ 12 800 pounds
Where did the satellite go?	Geostationary Transfer Orbit - 193 x 29 503 km x 27.06° target Geostationary slot at longitude 108° East
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes - OCISLY were towed downrange due east
Where will the first stage land?	On the “Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship” - OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You about 656 km downrange
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Type 1 fairings are not equipped with parachutes
Are these fairings new? Fairing types described in last chapter	Yes - Type 1 boat hull sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 10 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle
This will be the: Until this launch there has been 3 maiden flights of Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets which today adds 1 reflown Block 5 booster. 14 boosters flew twice before Block 5 boosters took the lead as the main launch vehicle. FH 1 side boosters both flew on a mission before being rebuilt.	– 60th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 15th re-flight of all Falcon 9 boosters – 4th flight of Falcon 9 Block 5 – 1st re-flight of Falcon 9 Block 5 booster – 36th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 28th booster landing overall – 15th mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Other Tim Dodd on Merah Putih Aug 7, 2018

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:14:26 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:16 T+00:02:34 T+00:02:43 T+00:03:36 T+00:06:18 T+00:08:07 T+00:08:12 - T+00:25:36 T+00:26:24 - - T+00:31:56 - - - -

Pre Launch Run Down from 0:01 then Q&A SpaceX live feed at 13:15 Lauren Lyons is alone on duty tonight Liftoff at 27:42 MaxQ at 28:58 MECO 30:16, stage separation 30:18 SES-1 at 30:25 Faring separation at 31:17 Entry burn 33:59 by 3 Merlin 1D# for 23 seconds Landing burn 35:49 by 1 Merlin 1D# for 33 seconds ? SECO at 35:54 and coasting Q&A with ranting until 53:13 SpaceX resumes live feed at 53:17 SES-2 - SECO-2 in 53 seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 579 km/h to 34 903 km/h at 54:06 Q&A until 58:46 SpaceX show deployment at 59:38 Q&A, explanations, see Parker Solar Probe from 1:00:33 First Launch day offer on merchandise at 1:07:10 Rap up from Tim Dodd at 1:09:02 Both fairings lost at sea

Iridium-7 Next	Merah Putih (Telkom-4)	Telstar 18V Apstar-5C	SAOCOM 1A	Es’hail-2
Spaceflight SSO-A	CRS-16	GPS III SV01	Iridium-8 Next	Nusantara Satu Beresheet

The Maltese Falcon twice flown

SpaceX has been commissioned by Telkom Indonesia to launch the communication satellite Merah Putih (Telkom-4) on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base (CCAFB).

Merah Putih (Telkom-4) was launched on August 7, 2018, at 01:18 EDT or 12:18 Jakarta Time, using the SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 launcher rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Orlando, Florida, United States. 

This booster, B1046-2 the first Block 5, is flying for the second time. It previously boosted the Bangabandhu-1 to orbit in July 2018.

No recovery of fairings is planned, but I wonder if SpaceX should have made an effort to salvage them as a goodwill favor to their customers, so they can display the fairings at their respective headquarters. After all, they would make great souvenirs/trophies.

Besides it's usually the giant mission logo on the fairing that gets plasma burnt during descent. This leaves a big brown burn mark on the active fairing half with the logo.

The Payload

Merah Putih (Telkom-4). Screenshot August 7, 2018 during radiation or radio noise testing

Telkom 4 aka. Merah Putih, is an Indonesian geostationary communication satellite built by Space Systems / Loral that is located at an orbital position of 108.0°E and is operated by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia. This satellite is based on the SSL 1300 platform and has a life expectancy of 16 years. 

This satellite carries 60 active transponders consisting of 24 C-Band transponders and 12 Extended C-Band transponders which will serve the Southeast Asia region, including Indonesia, as well as 24 C-Band transponders which will reach the South Asia region.

The satellite relies on the SSL 1300 platform with a design life of 16 years with up to 21 years of fuel remaining. The development of the Merah Putih Satellite involves two US companies, namely SSL as a satellite manufacturer and SpaceX as a satellite launch service provider. The total mass of the satellite is 5.8 tons. Telkom-4 is devoted to serving high-quality television broadcasts (High Definition Television) and GSM and Internet communication services.

Merah Putih (Telkom-4) is replacing Telkom 1, who had just completed its eighteenth year of service in orbit when it stopped transmitting at the end of August 2017. While PT Telkom initially announced that they were experiencing problems re-pointing one of the spacecraft’s communications antennae, it soon became clear to observers that the satellite had begun to disintegrate in orbit.

Once it became clear that they would not be able to return Telkom 1 to service, PT Telkom transferred customers to other satellites – including their own Telkom 2 and 3S and a third-party spacecraft – which required customers to reorient their receiver antennas to point at the new satellites.

Indonesia’s banking industry was particularly badly affected by the failure, which disrupted communications with thousands of ATMs across the country.

Merah Putih, which was to have replaced Telkom 1 even if it was still operational, will take over at Telkom 1’s position, fully restoring normal service and providing expanded capacity for the future.

Author: Trevor Sesnic Spaceflight entusiast link

Coauthor/Text Retriever: Johnny Nielsen link to launch list