Turkey is ready to enter a “new era” and the date set is next July 8, when the Turksat 6A telecommunications satellite will be launched. The announcement came directly from the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu who for days has been triumphantly talking about “a new era” and a “milestone for the country”. The launch of the Turksat 6A probe will allow Turkey to move from a country importing space probes to a country capable of exporting them. Again according to what Uraloglu declared today, the launch is set for July 8th from the Cape Canaveral space base in Florida. The satellite will be ‘pushed’ into orbit by Falcon 9 rockets. Once launched, the parameters and movements of the probe will be monitored by SpaceXconfirming the good relations between the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk. During his last visit to the USA Erdogan met Musk, with the aim of convincing the visionary entrepreneur to open a Tesla factory in Turkey.
Musk left the door open and accepted the Turkish leader’s invitation to the annual technology festival Technofest which is held in Izmir every year. Erdogan would like to increase the level of collaboration with Starlink and Space X for Turkish technological and aerospace development programs, for digitalization and in the field of artificial intelligence. Ankara also aims to launch other satellites into orbit after the first launch in April 2023 and to realize this project it is counting on the collaboration with Musk. While waiting to see what this ongoing dialogue between Musk and Erdogan will produce in the future, the launch of the Turksat 6A probe is now awaited with bated breath and Turkey is waiting for SpaceX to confirm that the launch was successful. The first 70 minutes will be crucial, that is, the launch into orbit and the detachment of Falcon rockets from the probe. From that moment on, monitoring will be dedicated to the journey to space orbit, which should last about a month; this is the time necessary to reach the distance of 35,786 kilometers from the earth, from which the probe is destined to operate.
Initially, Turksat 6A’s work will involve the sorting of satellite signals for TV, which will be ‘redirected’ to Turkish repeaters, but not only that. The probe will also benefit India, Malaysia and Thailand.For Turkey, a further step forward, which follows the launch of the first observation satellite, Imece,completely built in Turkey and taken off from the Vanderberg space base in California in April 2023. A launch that for the next 5 years will allow Ankara to have a cutting-edge observation instrument in orbit, high-definition images, communications and data transmission in very short times. The satellite is used for defense purposes, monitoring of earthquake-stricken areas and areas subject to natural disasters, as well as urban areas, forests and lands intended for agricultural and industrial purposes. President Erdogan has claimed the progress made in the aerospace sector by his country and continues to talk to Musk. The Turkish leader wants a Turkish aerospace company that is capable of designing, building, assembling, producing and testing and for this he needs SpaceX and Starlink. Erdogan can thus touch the ever-sensitive button of Turkish national pride. “Turkey is reaping the fruits of its technological progress and aims to reach the top of technology on a global scale,” the leader said just two days ago.