SpaceX, the company owned by ‘The First Buddy’ of US President-elect Donald Trump, is the first major beneficiary of a multi-million dollar deal struck by India’s space agency. Early next week, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will lift India’s most advanced communications satellite GSAT-20, also known as GSAT N-2, into orbit.
This is the first of many commercial activities by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) with SpaceX. While some say ISRO and SpaceX are competitors for low-cost launches, no one in the global commercial space market doubts that SpaceX is far ahead.
It is well known that Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a very good relationship and both call each other “my friend”. The eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk is also a friend of both of them, Elon Musk says he is a “Modi fan”. The optics and timing of the space launch are perfect, but coincidentally the deals happened before the US election results, and so critics of Washington DC or New Delhi may not raise “crony capitalism”.
GSAT-N2 will be launched from Cape Canaveral, America. Built by ISRO, this 4,700 kg satellite was too heavy for Indian rockets, so it was given a foreign commercial launch. India’s own rocket ‘The Baahubali’ or launch vehicle Mark-III could lift a maximum of 4,000-4,100 kg to geostationary transfer orbit.
India was till now dependent on Arianespace to launch its heavy satellites, but currently it has no operational rockets and the only reliable option India had was to go with SpaceX. Chinese rockets are prohibited for India, and Russia has not been able to offer its rockets for commercial launches due to the conflict in Ukraine.
“We got a good deal with SpaceX on this first launch,” Radhakrishnan Durairaj, chairman and managing director of New Space India Ltd (NSIL), ISRO’s Bengaluru-based commercial arm, told NDTV.
“The cost of launching this particular satellite… the technical compatibility and also the commercial deal… I would say it was a good deal for us to launch such a heavy satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket,” he said.
ISRO built GSAT-N2, which has a lift-off mass of 4,700 kg and a mission life of 14 years. This is a purely commercial launch initiated by NSIL. The satellite is equipped with 32 user beams, including eight narrow spot beams over the northeastern region and 24 wide spot beams over the rest of India. These 32 beams will be supported by hub stations located within mainland India. It will also help enable in-flight internet connectivity.
Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, according to news agency ANI.
PM Modi fan Elon Musk had said during a meeting with the Prime Minister on June 21, 2023, “I am incredibly excited about the future of India. India has more potential than any other major country in the world He (PM Modi) really cares about India because he is inspiring us to make significant investments in India. I am a fan of Modi. It was a great meeting and I like him a lot.”
It is estimated that this single dedicated commercial launch of the Falcon 9 rocket to lift India’s communications satellite will cost $60-70 million.
For the past few months, the Tesla chief has been asking India to grant SpaceX license to sell satellite-based internet services in India using its Starlink constellation. “I look forward to bringing Starlink to India, where it will help remote villages,” Elon Musk said in June 2023.
This week, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Elon Musk-owned Starlink is yet to comply with security norms, and licenses for satellite communication services will be issued only if they meet all the requirements for services in India. do. The minister said the satellite communication services major is in the process of completing all the requirements and will get the license once the process is completed.
“If they (Starlink) comply with all the conditions then we will be very happy to give them (the license). You have to look at it from a security perspective, making sure that all the security concerns are addressed. When they do that If you do, we will do it.” Very happy to deliver it, obviously, they are in the process of doing that,” Mr Scindia said.
India has also signed another commercial deal with Houston-based company Axiom Space to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon human spaceflight system. That deal is expected to cost $60 million. SpaceX’s earnings from missions sending astronauts could be significantly lower because four astronauts are sharing the flight.
