Photo: November 2017 – Elon Musk with Turkey President Erdogan / Source: YeniSafak
In November 2017, the founder of SpaceX Elon Musk met privately with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara, to discuss the launch of two new Turkish communications satellites, a presidential spokesperson told reporters at that time.
The satellite project is a joint venture between Turkish Aerospace Industries, Turksat, and the Assembly, Integration and Testing center in Ankara, where engineers work on satellite projects funded by the country. Turkey aims to strengthen its presence in space. Earlier this year, the Chief Executive of Turksat Cenk Sen, told reporters the country aims to have at least six satellites in orbit and work to develop a space program–
– “Turkey is ambitiously moving forward to become a competitive space systems manufacturer, and will become a stakeholder for manned and unmanned space missions in the near future. We expect the satellite market to become much more competitive in the coming years. But Turksat will be more than ready for any competition with its six satellites.”
On Tuesday, September 8th, the head of Turkey’s Presidential Digital Transformation Office, Ali Taha Koc, announced that SpaceX will deploy one of the communications satellites to orbit before the end of this year. “With Turksat-5A, Turkey will have a coverage area that encompasses the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and South Africa,” Koc told TRTworld reporters. Turksat-5A will be the country’s fourth satellite in space; It will be launched into a geostationary orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in the United States. The aerospace company will also deploy the country’s next satellite Turksat-5B in 2021. Both satellites are manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space; each weighs 4,500 kilograms and is equipped with 42 transponders that will beam signals down to Earth. The satellites feature Ku- and Ka-band capabilities, providing broadband speeds of up to 50 Gigabits per second.
About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
