India's Most Advanced Satellite Launch From US Is Elon Musk's 'Trump' Card

The GSAT-N2 will be launched from Cape Canaveral in the US. Made by ISRO, this 4,700 kg satellite was too heavy for Indian rockets to carry, hence the foreign commercial launch

SpaceX, the company owned by 'The First Buddy' of US President-elect Donald Trump, is the first big beneficiary of a multi-million dollar deal inked by India's space agency. Early next week, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will take India's most modern communications satellite GSAT-20, also called GSAT N-2, into orbit.

This is the first of many commercial engagements the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has with SpaceX. While some say ISRO and SpaceX are competitors for low-cost launches, in the global commercial space market no one doubts that SpaceX is way-way ahead.

It is well-known that Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi share a great bond with each calling the other "my friend". The maverick entrepreneur Elon Musk is also friends with both of them, with Elon Musk saying he is "a fan of Modi". The optics and timing of the space launch are just right, but incidentally the deals predate the American election results, and hence the critics of either Washington DC or New Delhi cannot raise "crony capitalism".