Türkiye to send its 1st domestic telecommunications satellite to US for launch

By Ayse Bocuoglu Bodur

ANKARA (AA) — Türkiye's first domestic telecommunications satellite, Turksat 6A, will be sent on Tuesday from the country's capital to the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in the US state of Florida, from where it will be launched into space.

Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu and Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir will be at the Murted Airfield in Ankara province, attending the ceremony at midday.

Turksat 6A will be sent to the US on an Antonov AN-124 cargo plane after the ceremony.

The journey will take roughly a day, with launch procedures to be initiated at the facilities of private space company SpaceX upon arrival as launch is scheduled for July 8-15.

Turksat 6A will be positioned at an orbit about 35,800 kilometers (22,245 miles) from the ground at 42 degrees east, after which the coverage area of Turkish satellites will have extended over India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, a population of 5 billion in total.

Several different agencies and companies are involved in the Turksat 6A project including the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry, satellite technology firm Turksat, defense industry companies Aselsan, Turkish Aerospace Industries, and the Space Technologies Research Institute of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK)

Türkiye is among the few countries capable of producing its own communications satellites, and upon the success of Turksat 6A, it now aims to become a satellite exporter.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim in Istanbul