'New era has begun in space science, technologies for Türkiye,' says technology minister

Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir said on Tuesday that "a new era has begun in space science and technologies for Türkiye."

Speaking at a press conference on "New Space Mission and Science Mission" with Turkish astronauts Alper Gezeravcı and Tuva Cihangir Atasever, Kacir said that over the past 22 years, Türkiye directed its largest investments towards human resources, strengthening its research and development and innovation infrastructure.

"Türkiye has reached a position where it can develop, produce, and test its own satellites," he said.

He underlined that with Imece, the first Turkish observation satellite with sub-meter resolution, Türkiye has the capability to capture images from "anywhere in the world."

"We will launch our domestic and national communication satellite TURKSAT 6A into space during the week of July 8, 2024," the minister said.

"With TURKSAT 6A, we (Türkiye) will be one of the 11 countries capable of developing and producing communication satellites," he added.

Kacir also announced that Atasever's suborbital research flight will take place on June 8, 2024, at Virgin Galactic's Spaceport facility in New Mexico, US.

He said: "We have no doubt that the experiments conducted by our astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever across different disciplines will bring significant gains to the research conducted by our scientists."