Turkish telecommunications satellite to be launched in mid-July

Türkiye's latest indigenous telecommunications satellite will be launched into space next month after its final tests at the SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the country's transportation and infrastructure minister said on Friday.

Transported to the facility earlier this month, the Turksat 6A will be carried into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket in mid-July, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said in a statement.

Uraloğlu said that once the space probe is in position, Türkiye's satellite operator Turksat will be able to provide coverage to a substantially wider area including India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

"Thus, with Turksat 6A, the population that Türkiye's satellites cover will increase from 3.5 billion to over 5 billion. Türkiye will be able to reach more than 65% of the world's population with its own telecommunication satellites," he said.

Uraloğlu added that the Turksat 6A will be operational for 15 years.