Dikhyaa Mohanty 
As Elon Musk works to deliver Starlink, which employs low-orbit satellites to provide broadband internet connections, to India, his company SpaceX currently owns 60% of the worldwide launch market. According to a Monday story from Nikkei Asia, the business has already launched more than 1,000 satellites into space this year.
According to data from astronomer Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, it currently accounts for more than 60% of satellites launched globally.
Since 2019, SpaceX has launched roughly 5,000 satellites, and it has requested authorization to use up to 42,000 more. Up to 60 satellites can be carried on a single SpaceX rocket at once. Musk claimed that the US is an excellent location for solar energy investment after visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi there last month.
“India is great for solar energy investment. We are also hoping to bring Starlink internet to India. I am incredibly excited about the future of India. I think India has more promise than any large country in the world,” he told reporters after the meeting. Musk said improved internet connectivity “can be incredibly helpful” in remote villages with poor broadband access.
Indian space sector startup Azista BST Aerospace Pvt Ltd’s first remote sensing satellite ABA First Runner (AFR) was successfully orbited by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket last month. According to SpaceX, the rocket on a dedicated rideshare mission carried 72 spacecraft that includes CubeSats, MicroSats and others and one of them was the Ahmedabad-based Azista BST Aerospace’s 80 kg satellite AFR.
Azista BST Aerospace is an Indo-German satellite manufacturing joint venture floated by India’s Azista Industries Pvt. Ltd (holding 70 per cent stake) and Berlin Space Technologies GmbH (holding 30 per cent stake). Last month, SpaceX successfully deployed Indonesia’s new communications satellite into orbit.
According to The Jakarta Post, the $550 million spacecraft “is envisioned to boost connectivity inclusion in the country, providing free Internet connection to 150,000 public facilities, including schools, regional government offices and health facilities”.
