SpaceX launches Türkiye's first indigenous comms satellite into orbit

Turksat 6A, Türkiye's first indigenous communications satellite has been successfully launched into orbit from SpaceX's Kennedy facility in Florida after a brief delay due to weather conditions.

Monday's launching was conducted at 7.30 pm (2330GMT) on Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After around 35 minutes, the satellite carried by Falcon 9 rocket is expected to deploy, according to SpaceX.

The 4.25-tonne satellite will operate at the 42 degrees East orbital position and its service life will be 15 years in orbit.

It will cover Türkiye, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia and will serve 4.5 billion people for TV, radio and emergency communications.

Turksat 6A is the first geostationary communications satellite built by Türkiye, with development led by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye's Space Technologies Research Institute and Turkish Aerospace Industries.

The launch has made Türkiye as one of the 11 countries capable of producing satellites through their own means, Turkish transport and infrastructure minister said ahead of the launch.

"This is the 15th flight of the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, O3b mPOWER, Ovzon 3, Eutelsat 36D, and eight Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean," SpaceX said on its website.

10 years in the making

Turksat 6A has been some 10 years in the making.

Turksat 1C, the successor of the first communications satellite Turksat 1B, was launched in 1995, followed by Turksat 2A in 2001, Turksat 3A in 2008, Turksat 4B in 2014, Turksat 5A in 2021, and Turksat 5B in 2022.

Turkish engineers took part in Turksat's construction of the 4A and 4B satellites, as well as in the design, production, and testing phases of 5A and 5B.

The Turksat 6A project was officially launched on December 15, 2014, beginning with the opening of the Space Systems Assembly Integration and Test Center established at Turkish Aerospace Industries facilities, in cooperation with Turksat and Türkiye's Defence Industries Agency.

Turkish-based defence firms Aselsan, C2TECH, and Turkish Aerospace Industries together with Turkish Space Agency, Turksat and TUBITAK completed the satellite’s construction.