Turkish Aerospace Industries to Carry Out New Missions with Satellites

Turkish technology giant Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), in addition to its responsibility in the national communications satellite Türksat 6A, is set to carry out new domestic and foreign missions with various satellites.

TAI Space Systems Deputy General Manager Selman Nas told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the company developed an operational satellite for another customer by utilizing competencies gained in the course of making communications satellite Türksat 6A.

Therefore, TAI has created the Small Size GEO Satellite telecommunication satellite platform, which can accommodate a wide range of commercial payloads and missions for this purpose, he said.

“The most important feature of this satellite is that it is electric and its lifespan is the same as other chemical propulsion systems. Hence, the mass of the satellite is low,” Nas underlined.

Thanks to its low mass, it has a low launch cost and can be produced and put into service very quickly, Nas noted.

Elucidating that TAI started making such a satellite for Argentina’s operator ARIAT, he said: “They wanted a satellite suitable for high-capacity data and communication transfer. Technically, it is called Ka band.”

Nas said the critical design of Small Size GEO is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and its development project by the end of next year.

Touching on Türkiye’s high-resolution earth observation satellite Göktürk-1, Nas said TAI is working on the Gokturk Renewal satellite as Göktürk-1 will complete its seven-year lifespan soon.

“The satellite will be launched into orbit in 2027. There is no change/delay in this schedule for now,” Nas said.

Nas also added that the company included conducting commercial activities with small and cost-effective observation satellites on their agenda and that they developed a microsatellite project.

“Again, it is an observation satellite. Its resolution is not for military operations. It is a project to evaluate images – captured for certain agriculture, forestry and urbanism applications – and transmit them to the end user,” he explained.