Turkey successfully launched into space Türksat 6A, its first domestically produced satellite, which was put into orbit by the private US company SpaceX with a launch from Cape Canaveral, in the United States.
According to Turkish media reports, Türksat 6A was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket on 8 July at 19:30 US Eastern Standard Time (1:30 CET on 9 July) from Cape Canaveral, and successfully made contact with Earth exactly 67 minutes after launch. Weighing 4.2 tonnes, the satellite is expected to have a service life of 15 years.
“At the 67th minute, as planned, we successfully received the first signal from our satellite. Receiving this signal means that the launch has been successfully completed and the rocket separation process has been carried out,” Turkey’s transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu later reported on social media.
After completing the testing phase of all its systems, the satellite is expected to be fully operational within a month. In addition to covering a large part of Turkey’s communications needs, Türksat 6A will provide telecommunications services to a region that will include India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia: the population covered by Turkish satellites will thus increase from 3.5 billion to more than 5 billion people.
Türksat 6A was 84% developed with components manufactured in Turkey. It is the second Turkish satellite launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after Türksat 5B, launched into space two years ago. With the launch of Türksat 6A into orbit, Turkey has joined the select group of 11 countries in the world capable of building its own communications satellites.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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