Turksat Satellite Projects
Turkey’s first step into communications satellite broadcasting was taken in 1994 with Türksat 1B. Since then, Turksat projects have developed rapidly. Turksat 1C (1996), Turksat 2A (2001), Turksat 3A (2008), Turksat 4B (2014), Turksat 5A (2021) and most recently Turksat 5B (2022) were put into service. An important program was launched in the Türksat 3A, 4A and 4B projects, in which Turkish engineers also took part. In addition, Turksat engineers took an active role in the satellite design, production and testing processes in the Turksat 5A and 5B projects.
Development Process of Turksat 6A
Within the scope of Turkey’s domestic and national satellite studies, the Türksat 6A project was officially launched on December 15, 2014. The work was accelerated with the Space Systems Integration and Test Center (USET) established in TUSAŞ facilities with the cooperation of Türksat and the Presidency of Defense Industries. Various stages were carried out within the scope of the project:
- Preliminary Review Phase (December 31, 2015)
- Critical Review Phase-1 (26 December 2016)
- Thermal Structural Competence Model (2017)
- Critical Review Phase-2 (November 29, 2018)
- Engineering Model Satellite Construction (2019)
- Flight Model Tests (2022-2024)
With the completion of flight model tests, the Turksat 6A satellite was sent to the Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida, USA, with Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Historical Day
Institutions such as the Turkish Space Agency, TÜBİTAK UZAY, Türksat AŞ, ASELSAN, C2Tech and TUSAŞ played important roles in the Türksat 6A project. Turkey’s first domestic and national communications satellite, Turksat 6A, has been made ready to be sent into space. The satellite will be launched today at 17:20 US local time and 00:20 Turkey time.
