Türksat 5B satellite to come online next week

ISTANBUL

Türksat 5B telecommunication satellite will be put in service next week on June 14, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has announced.

“After a five-month journey, Türksat 5B reached orbit on May 17. Performance and orbit tests were conducted successfully. Now it is time to put the satellite in service,” Karaismailoğlu said.

A ceremony to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be held to mark the occasion, the minister added.

The satellite, which is at its orbital slot of 42 degrees East longitude, will cover a wide area, including the entire Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, as well as northern, eastern and southern Africa and Turkey’s neighboring countries, Karaismailoğlu said.

Turksat 5B was launched on Dec. 19 last year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by U.S. aerospace company SpaceX.

Ordered from European manufacturer Airbus Defence and Space in 2017 and transferred from France to the U.S. on Nov. 29.

The satellite, which is equipped with a new-generation electric-powered impulsion system, is expected to last more than 35 years.

Karaismailoğlu recalled that Turkey sent Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B satellites to space within one year.

He also said that production, integration and test phases are currently being conducted for the domestically developed Türksat 6A satellite at TUSAŞ facilities in Ankara.

Türksat 6A will be sent into space in 2023, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, according to Karaismailoğlu.

In a statement last year, the minister suggested that the country’s first indigenous communications satellite will also be launched by SpaceX.