Türkiye’s research agency Tubitak paves way to space | Partners | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news | BELTA
ANKARA, 5 June (BelTA — Anadolu) — Türkiye’s national research agency
Tubitak is paving the way to space, said the director of the Tubitak
Space Technologies Research Institute (Tubitak Uzay).
Tubitak
Uzay serves as a development center of Türkiye’s space ecosystem working
towards advancing space efforts, Mehmet Nefes told Anadolu.
“We will see that our technologies we have worked on one day will carry us to the moon,” he noted.
Nefes
said they are continuing research and development in accordance with
the National Space Program after having successfully sent Türkiye’s
first space traveler, Alper Gezeravci, to the International Space
Station (ISS).
He noted that Tubitak Uzay will also coordinate
the “suborbital research flight” of the country’s second space traveler,
Tuva Cihangir Atasever, on June 8.
— ‘Tubitak Uzay is sort of an incubation center for Türkiye’s space ecosystem to develop’
Nefes
highlighted that Tubitak Uzay competes in the field of satellites, as
they first started with Bilsat, continuing with Rasat, Gokturk-2 and
Imece, each and every project they undertake contributing to their
technological capacity.
“The Imece satellite is currently
operating successfully, as we are monitoring the process of acceptance
tests in orbit from our ground station, since we will soon deliver it to
the Turkish Air Force,” he said.
“We are the main contractor of
Turksat 6A, and together with Turkish Aerospace Industries, Aselsan and
Ctech, we undertook Türkiye’s largest R&D project, as we will send
Turksat 6A to the US on June 4, besides planning to launch the satellite
during the week of July 8-13,” he added.
Nefes said that
commanding a satellite to capture images of any place on Earth is
important, and Türkiye’s commercial and military needs in the space
field with national projects will contribute to the country’s current
account deficit.
He noted that Tubitak Uzay’s main goal is to
meet Türkiye’s space technologies needs while protecting and developing
the related know-how and human resources.
“We support projects of
local firms as we work very closely with them, providing training and
consultancy, making our infrastructure available to them, as Tubitak
Uzay is sort of an incubation center for Türkiye’s space ecosystem to
develop.”
— ‘Tubitak Uzay is the go-to place for Türkiye’s space field’
Nefes
said they aim to make first contact on the moon by 2026 with a project
of producing a capable spacecraft with their own teams.
“The
computer architecture of the mission computer to be used on the lunar
rover is similar to the ones we used in Turksat 6A and Imece, only
altered to meet the needs of this project,” he said.
“We plan,
design, manufacture and even operate our own satellites for a while
before handing them over, as we try to meet the needs of our country,
and given the necessary support, we have the potential to meet every
space-related need, becoming the go-to place for Türkiye in the space
field,” he added.
— ‘Unity of power needed for sustainable activities in space’
Nefes
emphasized sustainability in space efforts, as one-off successes and
projects are no longer viable, and that there needs to be planned
projects in line with a road map.
“The support from the Ministry
of Industry and Technology and the Tubitak Presidency are crucial, as
both establishments provide serious support, for instance, for the
satellites we have already launched into space. Similarly, they support
our ongoing projects, and we work together with the private sector. To
have sustainable activities in space, we need a unity of power, such as
utilizing indigenous technologies and products.”
Nefes noted that
the surge of interest in space has been positive, as the number of
young people interested in space projects has seen an uptick.
“We
encourage young engineers in our projects and support satellite
projects from the private sector and universities, such as through
consultancy, training and testing in our facilities,” he said.
