The Indonesian government has offered Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, to build a rocket launch site on the island of Biak in December 2020.
Residents from the small island told Elon Musk that his company is not welcome on their island on Tuesday.
Biak is a beautiful island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, one of the Indonesian provinces, populated by 112,000 people.
The island is located 1 degree below the equator, making it ideal for satellites launching, which less fuel will be required to reach orbit.
Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, also interested to develop a rocket launch site on the island by 2024.
However, Papuans and environmental experts fear such a site will damage the island’s ecosystem.
SpaceX & the Indonesian government have not announced anything concrete yet up to the date.