Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu stated that the system level test activities of the TÜRKSAT-6A National Communications Satellite continue successfully and said, “In these tests, the launch process of the satellite and the space environment are created on the ground and its resistance to conditions is tested. tests and thermal vacuum tests have been successfully completed.” said.
“TÜRKSAT-6A National Communications Satellite Project Contract and Additional Protocol”,
Under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it was signed between the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, TÜBİTAK and TÜRKSAT in 2014, and the project was officially launched.
TURKSAT-6A, which will have the title of “the first domestic communication satellite” of Turkey, will make many contributions in terms of producing critical technologies with domestic facilities and developing human resources in this field, as well as providing services to new geographies that were not covered before.
Minister Karaismailoğlu answered his questions about the project process. Karaismailoğlu stated that the project was carried out meticulously at the highest level with domestic facilities.
Explaining that the production, integration and tests of the “engineering model” of the satellite were completed in August 2022 in order to verify the design, Karaismailoğlu stated that the integration activities for the “flight model” that will serve in orbit have been completed to a large extent.
Expressing that the system level test activities of the satellite are carried out successfully, Karaismailoğlu said, “In these tests, the launch process of the satellite and the space environment are created on the ground and its durability is tested. As of December 2022, the first functional tests and thermal vacuum tests from the system level tests were successfully completed.” he said.
TURKSAT-6A will be launched this year with SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Stating that the activities of the TÜRKSAT-6A Satellite Project, which continue in line with the requirements and according to the project schedule, are closely followed by the project stakeholders and relevant institutions, Karaismailoğlu stated that the TÜRKSAT-6A is aimed to be launched with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this year.
Underlining that Turkey will have developed the first domestic communication satellite platform with TÜRKSAT-6A, Karaismailoğlu said the following regarding the contribution of the project to the country:
“With our TÜRKSAT-6A satellite taking its place in orbit, it will become a space-qualified platform and this experience can be used for subsequent communication or satellites with different payloads. Especially with the production of critical components with domestic facilities and high locality rate, it will reduce foreign dependency in the satellite and space sector. Satellite design, production and testing infrastructure has been completed, used and will be actively used for future projects. The satellite will make significant contributions to the creation of trained human resources in the space sector. It will serve new geographies such as South-East Asia, which were not previously covered by TÜRKSAT satellites. Turkey, TÜRKSAT “With the experience gained from 6A, it will become a communication satellite production center for the countries in its region. We will take our place in the country of space in the Century of Turkey with our domestic and national satellites.”
Strong access to African geography with TÜRKSAT 5B
Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that the TÜRKSAT 5B satellite was also commissioned on June 15, 2022, and that this date is the beginning of a new transformation.
Serving in a wide coverage area including Turkey as well as the whole of the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, North and East Africa, Nigeria, South Africa and neighboring countries, the satellite has the highest maneuver life ever with a service life of over 35 years. Explaining that the satellite has a high-capacity payload, Karaismailoğlu stated that it is the most powerful satellite of the Türksat fleet.
Karaismailoğlu stated that the KA frequency band, which started to be used with Türksat 4A and Türksat 4B satellites, reached a very high capacity in Türksat 5B satellite, and said:
“With Türksat 5B being placed in orbit at 42 degrees east, the number of communication satellites in this orbit has increased to 3. Our 5B satellite, unlike the others, is in the High Efficiency Satellite category with at least 20 times more capacity efficiency than the Fixed Satellite Service class satellites. It increases the KA band capacity, which is a data communication capacity, by 17 times. With these features, 5B has started to serve as our satellite with the highest capacity to date. Therefore, it is expected that the need for broadband internet via satellite will be met significantly with 5B in the coming years. we have a very wide coverage area and it has become possible to provide service in KA-band especially in North Africa. We have KU-band coverage as well as KA-band in 5B. frequency bands to back up our satellites is in effect. In this sense, the services we offer together with 5B, which is important in terms of redundancy, will increase a lot with additional capacity.”
