The opening tests of the solar panels with high power generation capacity of Türksat 6A, Türkiye's first domestic and national communication satellite, were successfully completed at the Space Systems Integration and Test (USET) Center at TUSAS. After this stage; Launcher compatibility tests, final functional tests and payload performance tests will be carried out, respectively, and then the satellite will be ready for transportation to the launch site.
Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said, "We will send Türksat 6A into space next year. Thus, Türkiye will be one of the 10 countries that can develop, produce and use their own communication satellites in space with their domestic and national resources."
Stating that they carried out the solar panel expansion test of Türksat 6A, one of the important projects of the National Space Program carried out under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan within the scope of the National Technology Move, Minister Kacır said, "We will send it into space next year. Thus, Türkiye will be one of the 10 countries that can develop, produce and use their own communication satellites in space with their domestic and national resources. Of course, Türksat operates in the field of communication satellites, and Türksat 6A will bring with it the opportunity for Türksat to provide services to a geography covering more than 1.5 billion people."
STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT FOR OUR NATIONAL SECURITY
Stating that Türksat 6A has much more advanced technologies compared to Türkiye's previous experiences, Minister Kacır said, "Türkiye has gained a great deal of experience in imaging satellites in 20 years. Our journey, which started with BİLSAT joint production studies, brought us the opportunity to access satellites with sub-meter resolution in imaging satellites with RASAT, Göktürk and most recently IMECE. We sent IMECE into space in April, and we are already benefiting from IMECE very successfully. Now, with Türksat 6A, we are stepping into communication satellites. Our hope is that with this experience we will gain, Türkiye will be able to get a much larger share from the space economy, which is approaching 600 billion dollars, in the coming period, and at the same time, we will be able to continue our development processes with our domestic and national facilities for many applications that are strategically important for our national security."
WE DEVELOP WITH LOCAL AND NATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Noting that TUBITAK SPACE, TUSAŞ, ASELSAN, C-Tech and many stakeholders played an important role in the project, Kacır said, "In fact, it is a tremendous cooperation project. The center we are in is a center operating on the TUSAS campus built by our Presidency of Defense Industries, and we have the opportunity to carry out all our satellite development processes and space systems through our own infrastructures, human capital and human resources with domestic and national resources, thanks to this center."
WE ARE GOING OVER 30 THOUSAND KILOMETERS
Stating that the Lunar Research Project, which is included in the National Space Program, will carry Türkiye to deep space, Kacır said, "We were below a thousand kilometers in IMECE, now we are going over 30 thousand kilometers with Türksat 6A, but when we reach the moon, we will have made a journey of 380 thousand kilometers in space. In all these projects, especially the domestic and national development of subsystems, core components and technologies will always continue to be our primary goal."
WE WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP NEW PROJECTS
Minister Kacır said, "Türksat 6A will be completed in 2024, followed by our project within the scope of the Lunar Research Program at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026. On the other hand, we will continue to develop new projects in the National Space Program, especially on the low orbit constellation satellites. We will continue our efforts in line with the goal set by our President in order to make Türkiye a country that both benefits from space technologies at the most advanced level and can develop all these technological capabilities with domestic and national resources."
SSB PRESIDENT HALUK GÖRGÜN: "ALL KINDS OF ENVIRONMENTS TO WHICH SATELLITES WILL BE EXPOSED ARE CREATED"
President of the Presidency of Defense Industries Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün said, "The facility we are in; It is one of the facilities in 6 countries. Here, not only the integration of the satellites to be sent into space is carried out, but also all kinds of environments to which the satellites will be exposed are created and tests are carried out to fulfill their functions. Today, we have carried out the opening test of the solar panels, however, thermal tests and vacuum tests are also carried out under this facility."
Minister Kacır and his entourage received information from the engineers who carried out the Türksat 6A satellite studies.
APPLAUDED THOSE WHO WORKED
Minister Kacır said, "The heroes of this project; scientists, engineers and technicians who put their sweat into their foreheads and minds within the scope of this project." and applauded those who contributed to Türksat 6A satellite studies.
President of the Presidency of Defense Industries Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Zekeriya Çoştu, Deputy Minister of National Defense Şuay Alpay, TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, President of the Turkish Space Agency Yusuf Kıraç, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TUSAS Prof. Dr. Rafet Bozdoğan, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of TUSAS Ömer Cihad Vardan and General Manager of TUSAS Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil also attended the program.
TÜBİTAK SPACE COORDINATED
In the Türksat 6A project, which is financed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Türksat A.Ş. and TÜBİTAK, TÜBİTAK UZAY; It is developing the national communication satellite together with the project partners TUSAS, ASELSAN and CTech companies. In the project, first of all, system-level test models were produced, and finally, the integration studies of the flight model that will serve in orbit have been completed and the final tests are carried out before transportation to the launch site.
TUSAS IS HELD AT USET
The assembly, integration and testing activities of the TÜRKSAT 6A satellite are carried out at the Space Systems Integration and Test (USET) Center at TAI. The satellite, which will be placed in 42° east geo-geosynchronous orbit, will be operated by Türksat. The mass of the satellite will be more than 4 tons.
PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN DATA COMMUNICATION
Türksat 6A satellite, which will carry 16 Ku-Band transponders, will bring significant capacity increase and critical advantages in the field of secure data communication to our country with its technological competence.
