'Turkey secures its orbital rights for 30 years with Turksat 5A'

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - With the newly launched Turksat 5A satellite, Turkey's active satellites in space will rise to seven, Turkey's president said on Friday, adding that the country has secured its orbital rights for 30 years.

"Our goal is to settle Turksat 6A, the first communication satellite produced by Turkey, into orbit in 2022," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the special session of Satellite Technologies Week via video conference at Vahdettin Mansion.

He went on to say that Turkey is planning to launch its indigenous high-resolution observation satellite IMECE to space next year.

"So we have raised the number of active satellites in space to seven," he said, referring to the newly launched Turksat 5A satellite.

Turkey will also announce its 2021-2030 National Space Program soon, Erdogan added.

Turksat 5A satellite was launched Friday morning using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US state of Florida.