IndoStar-1

IndoStar-1, which also known as Cakrawarta-1, is a communication satellite that was launched the evening of November 12, 1997 at 21:48 GMT aboard an Ariane 44L-3 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, as the first direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) in Asia, IndoStar-1 would initiate a new communication service for Indonesian society such as direct-to-home television.

Design

The IndoStar-1 geostationary broadcast satellite (the first STAR spacecraft bus) and the Turn-Key IndoVision Direct To Home (DTH) program was developed by Thomas van der Heyden. The satellite was built by a team of engineers at the US company Defense Systems Inc. (DSI), which had up until the IndoStar program (later renamed to Cakrawarta by the then president of Indonesia - Suharto), focused on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for the US government, DARPA and NASA.

Under the contract DSI together with its sister company International Technologies Inc. (ITI) constructed the Indostar-1 satellite program for on-orbit turn-key delivery for the Indonesian television broadcasting company PT Media Citra Indostar (MCI). The Turn-Key, End-to-End contract, which included; Launch, Tracking Telemetry & Control Station, Up-Link Station for 60 MPEG television channels, Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) design, ITU regulatory filings, insurance, and spacecraft - was the first fully turn key contract in the commercial satellite industry.