Minister Uraloğlu, speaking at the press conference held at Türksat, evaluated the latest status of Turkey's first local and national communications satellite, Türksat 6A, which was sent to Space X's Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in Florida, USA on June 4.
Uraloğlu emphasized that they were proud to crown Turkey's satellite broadcasting adventure, which began with Türksat 1B in 1994, with the first domestic and national communications satellite, Türksat 6A, and said that the country had made significant progress in satellite and space technology in recent years.
Uraloğlu pointed out that they commissioned the communication satellites Türksat 1B in 1994, Türksat 1C in 1996 and Türksat 2A in 2001 and that these satellites had reached their service life, and said, “The active one was Türksat 3A in 2008. We broadcast Türksat 4A in 2014 and Türksat 4B in 2015. We commissioned Türksat 5A in 2021 and finally Türksat 6A in 2022 by Turkish engineers at TAI. “It was manufactured at the Systems Integration and Testing Center (USET) and this is of special importance for our country,” he said.
Uraloğlu stated that the history of Türksat 6A began with the technology transfer program during the construction of Türksat 3A and stated that Türksat engineers were also involved in the construction of 4A and 4B as well as 3A with the program initiated by Türksat.
Uraloğlu also evaluated the production process of Türksat 6A and said:
“We started work at USET, which we set up at TAI facilities in 2015 in cooperation with Türksat and the Presidency of Defense Industries. We completed the detailed 'critical review phase' on December 26, 2016. We completed the Thermal Structural Adequacy Model in late 2018 and started the second phase of critical review. We completed this phase in November 2018 and started designing the engineering model in early 2019. After completing the engineering model in 2022, we conducted the first functional tests of the flight model, which we will send into space. We completed the thermal vacuum tests in December 2022. Again, we completed the vibration and acoustic tests of the flight model in August 2023, the shock tests in November 2023, and the final functional tests in January 2024. -We completed all our functional tests by completing the Tİ-AR (CATR) tests in March 2024 and the mass properties measurement in April 2024. After Türksat 6A successfully passed all tests, we sent it to Space-X facilities.”
Starting procedure
Uraloğlu explained that the launch procedures, which began after a successful transfer process and lasted about a month, have been completed:
“We have now begun the countdown to launch our Turksat 6A satellite into space on July 8, 2024, at 5:20 p.m. US local time, at 12:20 a.m. on the night of July 8-9, on a Falcon 9 rocket from the launch center in Turkey. The timing of the launch of the satellite (If we take the launch as a reference, the first separation of the fuel tank will occur at the 195th second, exactly 35 minutes and 55 seconds later, and the Türksat 6A satellite will be separated from the second stage of the rocket and approximately at the 70th minute after the satellite separates from the rocket. We aim to reach and receive the first signal after the moment of satellite separation. The separation went without any problems. After the launch, our satellite will launch with the chemical propulsion system and start reaching its permanent orbit at 35,000 786 kilometers. Our goal is to put our Türksat 6A satellite into operation after it is put into orbit by Türksat after about a month of tests.”
Uraloğlu pointed out that with its commissioning, Türksat 6A will both provide redundancy for existing satellites and increase capacity, stressing that the satellite will represent an important milestone in Turkey's satellite ecosystem as a geostationary communications satellite.
Uraloğlu emphasized that the satellite will provide services in the field of data communication, especially television broadcasting, and said it can meet the country's satellite communication needs in a wide coverage area.
Uraloğlu explained that India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where the existing satellites are not in use, will also be covered and made the following assessment:
“Thus, for the first time, we will be able to reach local TV channels in these countries through a satellite we produce. With Türksat 6A, the population reached by Turkey's satellites will increase from 3.5 billion to 5 billion. We will support our customers in this respect.” “In this sense, the services we offer with 6A, which is important in terms of redundancy, will also increase with additional capacity.” We plan to significantly increase Türksat satellite service exports to the region with the commissioning of Türksat 6A.”
“Control of UAVs operating abroad will be safer with Türksat satellites”
Uraloğlu stated that with all Türksat satellites, especially Türksat 5B, which is currently in operation, they will be able to keep the country's UAVs under control all over the world, and said, “So it is no longer possible for outside interference in the control of our UAVs, and this satellite communication is the rule of the game, especially in UAV operations.” The control of UAVs, especially those operating abroad, will be more secure with Türksat satellites. Likewise, Türksat 6A will minimize the risk of unauthorized access or interference by providing “this will allow our capabilities to spread over a very large area,” he said.
Uraloğlu pointed out that they have secured the orbital rights in the space homeland and stressed that they will respect the rights not only at sea and on land but also in space until the end.
Uraloğlu stated that with the experience gained from Türksat 6A, the country has become a communication satellite production center for the countries in its region, and stated that with the production of the satellite, the country has taken its place among the countries producing communication satellites and has become a satellite exporter.
Uraloğlu connected with Fatih Ayhan, Space
Ayhan said that Türksat 6A was the first satellite launched from the space base in question.
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