Rockets fly over Tuz Lake for Teknofest thrill

ISTANBUL

The rocket competition started in the Tuz Lake region in the Central Anatolia on Sept. 1, a part of Turkey’s Aerospace and Technology Festival Teknofest, which will be held between Sept. 24 - 27 in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

“We made it. We really made it. We will be there tomorrow inshallah,” wrote Selçuk Bayraktar, the technical manager of Baykar, the leading company behind the festival, on his Twitter account on Sept. 3.

Some 82 teams, selected from 516 applications, will fly their rockets over the Tuz Lake in the rock-et competition that will last until Sept. 13.

Among the finalists, there are seven teams from the high school level, according to the officials.

The competition will be run in three categories as “Low, medium and high altitudes.” In the low altitude category, 32 teams, including four teams of high school students, will force their rockets weighing at least four kilos to pass 5,000 feet. This category received 262 applications, including three from abroad.

For the medium-altitude competition, 207 teams including four from abroad applied, but only 44 teams were selected as finalists. These teams will fly their rockets to a height of 10,000 feet.

The most exciting races will be held in the “high altitude” category, according to the officials, as the six finalists’ teams will try for 20,000 feet.

The winning prizes for all categories is 50,000 Turkish Liras ($6,700). The runner-ups will be awarded 40,000 liras ($5,300). The teams that make it to the third position will be awarded 30,000 Turkish liras ($4,000).

The winners will be announced at the third Teknofest organization in Gaziantep province at the end of the month.

The first and the second Teknofest were held in Istanbul in 2018 and 2019. At the end of 2019, the organizers announced that Teknofest will be held in Anatolian provinces once in two years and for September 2020, Gaziantep was chosen.

In 2019, some 1.7 million people attended the Teknofest, but this year due to the coronavirus out-break, spectators won’t be allowed and strict measures will be taken in the organization in Gaziantep.