'Turkey set for 1st export in space field by 2024'

By Goksel Yildirim

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will make the country’s first export in the field of space, Turkey’s Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) announced on Friday.

GSATCOM Space Technologies, a TAI subsidiary, will export high throughput satellites (HTS) to Argentina’s national telecommunications company ARSAT, the SSB said in a statement.

GSATCOM, established by TAI and Argentina-based firm INVAP as a joint venture in the Turkish capital Ankara, launched a program for the production of new generation communication satellites in 2019, the statement said.

“With the GSATCOM license, the production of the ARSAT-SG1 communication satellite, which is aimed to be developed in three years by TAI, GSATCOM and INVAP engineers, will be completed in 2024,” it added.

The satellite, which has a fully electric propulsion system and an output capacity exceeding 50 Gbps in Ka-Band, will be used for civilian data transfer and is expected to be among its top peers in the world, the SSB said.

Hailing the project, Ismail Demir, head of the SSB, said Turkey’s defense industry is rapidly expanding its capabilities abroad.

“I would like to congratulate all our engineers who will contribute to the development of the satellite to be delivered to Argentina in 2024 under this project, which will be the first export of our country in the field of space,” he said.