ISRO and Elon Musk Deal: Indian space agency ISRO has joined hands with veteran businessman Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Musk’s company Space
This is the reason behind dill
There have been several deals between the Indian Space Research Org.zation (ISRO) and SpaceX. GSAT-N2 will be launched from Cape Canaveral, America. The 4700 kg satellite was too heavy for an Indian rocket, so it was sent for a foreign commercial launch. India’s own rocket ‘The Baahubali’ or launch vehicle Mark-3 can carry a maximum weight of 4000 to 4100 kg into space.
India has so far depended on Arianespace to launch its heavy satellites, but it currently has no operational rockets and India’s only viable option is to go with SpaceX. Chinese rockets are unsuitable for India and Russia has not been able to offer its rockets for commercial launch due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Why is GSAT-N2 special?
ISRO has built GSAT-N2 with a mass of 4700 kg and a mission life of 14 years. This is a completely commercial launch, being managed by NSIL. The satellite is equipped with 32 user beams, including eight narrow spot beams over the North Eastern region and 24 wide spot beams over the rest of India.
These 32 beams will be supported by hub stations located in mainland India. It will also help enable in-flight internet connectivity.
It will cost Rs 591 crore
It is estimated that this single dedicated commercial launch of the Falcon 9 rocket to carry India’s 2C communications satellite will cost $60-70 million (approximately Rs 591 crore 34 lakh).
It is known that Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a very good relationship and both call each other friends. Businessman Elon Musk is also a friend of both. Elon Musk has said many times that I am a ‘Modi fan’. Now it remains to be seen whether Musk will make any other big deal with India in future.
