PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara has also selected the JUPITER System for the Nusantara Satu satellite, which is now in service.
PSN-6 Nusantara Satu used a PSN gateway hosted at PCCW Global’s Stanley Earth Station in Hong Kong.
The Falcon 9 booster used on 2019-11-11 previously launched 10 Iridium Next satellites in 2018-07-01, CONAE’s Saocom-1A in 2018-10-01, and PSN’s Nusantara Satu in 2019-02-01.
PSN’s newest satellite, Nusantara Satu, launched 2019-02-21 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
PSN has a second satellite, Nusantara Satu-2 (formerly Palapa-N1), under construction by China Great Wall Industry Corp. that is scheduled to launch in 2020 on a Chinese Long March 3B rocket.
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk stated that the in-flight abort test could take place in April 2019 using the same Falcon 9 first stage that launched the Nusantara Satu communications satellite and two secondary payloads.
The Nusantara Satu telecom satellite and the S5 experimental smallsat deployed nearly 45 minutes after Falcon 9 liftoff.
PSN anticipates using Nusantara Satu to connect around 5 million people through Wi‑Fi hotspots by the end of the year.
SSL built Nusantara Satu with chemical and electrical propulsion.
Nusantara Satu is a 4,100-kilogram communications satellite equipped with C- and Ku-band transponders primarily for broadband connectivity.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s S5 satellite will ride to near geostationary orbit with Nusantara Satu before deploying from the parent satellite.
SSL is using an approach for hosting S5 on Nusantara Satu that was honed during a DARPA experiment that carried a smallsat aboard Hispasat-30W-6.
SSL took responsibility for buying a launch and finding a co-passenger for Nusantara Satu.
China Great Wall Industry Corp. is building Nusantara Satu-2 (formerly Palapa-N1), a joint-venture satellite between PSN and Indosat Ooredoo scheduled to launch in April 2020 on a Long March 3B rocket.
PSN estimates it should be able to connect 12 million to 13 million people by the end of 2020 when Nusantara Satu-2 is in orbit.
SSL built Nusantara Satu in 26 to 27 months.
The Beresheet lander and the Air Force Research Laboratory smallsat are riding onboard Nusantara Satu and will separate from the satellite using techniques SSL developed as part of DARPA’s Payload Orbital Delivery System experiment.
Once Nusantara Satu enters service in April, PSN will use the satellite to reach another 10,000 villages, bringing connectivity within range of 5 million people by the end of the year.
PSN originally contracted Boeing to build Nusantara Satu but switched the contract to Space Systems Loral (SSL) in 2014.
PSN obtained export-credit financing for Nusantara Satu from Export Development Canada, aided by the fact that MDA Corp., SSL’s parent company at the time, was based in Canada.