Türksat 6A, Türkiye’s latest satellite innovation, has started its space journey from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, U.S. with the launching ceremony took place on Monday.
The ceremony was attended by Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Transport and Infrastructure Minister; Haluk Görgün, Chairperson of the Presidency of Defense Industries; Hasan Hüseyin Ertok, General Manager of Türksat; Hasan Mandal, Head of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBITAK); Mehmet Demiroğlu, General Manager of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ); Ahmet Akyol, General Manager of Turkish defense giant ASELSAN and Cüneyd Fırat, General Manager of CTECH; along with other officials.
The satellite was to launch into space from Launch Complex 40 by Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket at 5.21 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (21:21GMT), however the launch was postponed several times due to adverse weather conditions.
Türksat 6A is the first geostationary communications satellite built by Türkiye, with development led by TÜBITAK’s Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBITAK UZAY) and Turkish Aerospace.
The satellite will operate at the 42-degree East orbital position.
Population reached by Türkiye’s satellites to exceed 5B
Türksat 6A, which will be located 35,786 kilometers away from the Earth, will provide service with 20 Ku Band transmitters. With Türksat 6A, which has a power of 8.4 kilowatts and weighs 4,229 kilograms, the coverage area served by Türksat will expand to include India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
With the launch of the satellite, Türkiye will be able to reach more than 65% of the world’s population with its own communication satellites. The population reached by Türkiye’s satellites will increase from 3.5 billion to over 5 billion.