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Indonesia is a country spread along the ring of fire with many volcanoes and surrounded by open ocean, hence Indonesia prominent to a natural disaster such as earthquakes, volcano eruption, landslides, tsunami, and other typical disaster. In 2015 Indonesia National Institute of Aeronautics & Space (LAPAN) had launched a LAPAN-A2 satellite in equatorial orbit with 6-degree inclination. This orbit is very useful for Indonesia since the satellite could pass over Indonesia more frequency then SSO orbit. One of the missions of the LAPAN-A2 satellite is for supporting communication during a disaster since ordinary communication will blackout during a typical disaster. LAPAN-A2/LAPAN-ORARI is also known as the IO-86 satellite by the amateur satellite community in the world. This paper will describe the role of LAPAN-A2 in supporting communication and imaging during several disasters that happen in Indonesia. The communication during a disaster could be done by using voice repeater payload in the satellite while in the ground; the people use only a small handheld transceiver (HT) with 5 watts RF and a low gain portable antenna to established communication with people in another region. Besides describing the role of this satellite, this paper also describes how this satellite asset encourages societies in Indonesia to be prepared for the natural disaster that may happen anytime by learning simple satellite communication. Copyright © 2019 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.
