Rethinking Indonesia’s future at low earth orbit

Outer space activities that were originally carried out during the Cold War era for ideological purposes have now turned into a competition for commercial benefits. The private sector is a new player in international space activities with significant roles. Amazon Kuiper, OneWeb and Starlink are among the private parties actively involved in commercial space activities. In the early days of the development of outer space activities, the primary objective of satellite launches was to place satellites in geostationary orbits. In addition to low earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit and highly elliptical orbit, the geostationary orbit (GSO) is one of four orbits that serve as satellite operating trajectories. The commercial value of the communications satellite industry, which generally orbits the GSO, has diminished. Private parties are now dominating space activities, with most wishing to launch their satellites into the LEO, where most satellites operate because their faster clock speed makes them more useful than GSO satellites