By Stefanno Sulaiman, Devjyot Ghoshal and Joe Brock
JAKARTA (Reuters) – When a Chinese rocket malfunctioned shortly after launch in April 2020, destroying Indonesia’s $220 million Nusantara-2 satellite, it was a blow to the archipelago’s efforts to strengthen its communication networks. But it presented an opportunity for one man.
Elon Musk – the owner of SpaceX, the world’s most successful rocket launcher – seized on the failure to prevail over state-owned China Great Wall Industry Corp (CGWIC) as Jakarta’s company of choice for putting satellites into space.
The Chinese contractor had courted Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a key space growth market – with cheap financing, promises of broad support…
