TÜBİTAK President Mandal assessed Turkey’s competence in the satellite field.
Reminding that Turkey has satellites in the field of observation and communication, Mandal said that it launched the newest observation satellite, İMECE, into space last year.
Mandal stated that İMECE has successfully completed its mission: “But we may not be able to take pictures at any time. One of the newly approved satellites, İMECE-2 and İMECE-3, will become operational in 2027 and the other in 2028. In this way, Turkey will have created a constellation of observation satellites, so “we will be able to take pictures and make observations whenever and wherever we want, which is important,” he said.
Mandal pointed out that this would benefit the country in terms of security, intelligence, civil applications and mutual support of satellites, saying, “The greatest strength of many countries is that they have a constellation of satellites. Therefore, the continuity of all the capabilities gained in this field is important. The resolution of İMECE-2 and İMECE-3 will be at a much higher level. Small objects will be seen more clearly and their photos will be taken more clearly with higher resolution. This is a clear success. It will be twice as high,” he gave his assessment.
“Turkey’s new satellite adventure should continue with smaller mini-satellites”
Stating that a strategic decision is needed to continue work in this field after Türksat 6A, Mandal said, “From now on, Turkey's new satellite adventure should continue with smaller mini-satellites. Another question is how many of these satellites will be public and how much the private sector should do it. We have companies operating in this field. What role will the public and private sectors play in the ecosystem? What will be the interaction and synergy between them? These types of tasks are up to the state's efforts to ensure further regulation, regulation, needs assessment, guidance and obstacles. “It has to be effective in areas such as trench digging, but the state's sensitivity towards large satellites and observation satellites remains.”
Mandal explained that mobility, intelligent systems and object-to-object communication have increased with the advent of 5G and 6G, and said that during this time, communication should be done through mini-satellites with more emphasis on the private sector.
“Türkiye has so far covered its satellite needs itself”
Mandal stated that Turkey is among the world leaders in satellite energy, adding:
“Our country is among the top 10 in the field of communication and observation satellites. The multiplier effect of designing the satellite according to need rather than owning one is high. The infrastructure at the TAI Space Systems Integration and Test Center consists of a very limited number of countries developing higher versions of critical components in the satellite field. The next step should be to get a larger share of this big pie. Since we are in the satellite field so far, we should use our competence in this field to ensure the inflow of foreign exchange to our country.
Turkey's next goal is to be able to export services in the satellite field. Since our country has this potential, we are able to manufacture satellites and sell services in this field. “Mini satellites should now be produced in our country and the private sector should be more focused there.”
Bir yanıt yazın