Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır announced that the Rubidium Atomic Clock, one of the strategic projects of the National Space Program, was successfully launched into space and the first signal was received from the spacecraft.
RAFS was developed entirely with domestic resources under the leadership of the Turkish Space Agency, under the prime contractorship of TÜBİTAK National Metrology Institute (UME) and in collaboration with TÜBİTAK UZAY and İTÜNOVA.
Atomic clocks measure time with extremely high precision by referring to fixed resonant frequencies between the energy levels of atoms. The rubidium atom oscillates 6 billion 834 million 682 thousand 610 times in one second, thus forming a reference for measuring time.
July 17, 2026
The domestic atomic clock will contribute to satellite technology
The data obtained by RAFS, which will be verified in space conditions on the cube satellite, will contribute to the development of high-precision timing technologies used in Türkiye's communications, navigation, satellite systems and scientific space missions.
The project also stands out as one of the critical infrastructures for the Regional Positioning and Timing System developed under the National Space Program. The results of the tests in the space environment will form the basis for new generation solutions that will be used in domestic satellite systems and frequency technologies in the future.
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