Satellite Technologies and Turkey

Satellites are not just about television. A lot of work is being done for broadband internet access and defense industry with new generation satellites. While designing satellites, the operating frequency is as important as their function. Although satellite internet may seem very unusual, 400,000 satellite internet subscriptions were created in New York in 2020. Quality uninterrupted internet is possible with satellite technologies with much higher quality.

Turkey's work on satellites started in 1978, but was done on a small scale. Mainly, after 1985, a group was established in Türk Telekom for satellite operation. Trainings were received in countries such as Japan and Canada, and a team was formed in Turkey on this subject. Turgut Özal, the prime minister of that time, initiated these studies.

In these times, Turkey has to have a strong monitoring capability due to its geographical location and the reasons required by international relations. For this reason, earth observation satellite studies are an important science and technology field for the country. In this context, Turkey currently has three (GÖKTÜRK 1, GÖKTÜRK 2, RASAT) and one (İMECE) satellite, which is expected to be launched in 2022. RASAT is the first domestically produced observation satellite. İMECE will also serve as a domestic and national production high resolution observation satellite. Images can be obtained for military intelligence purposes through these satellites; damage detection, illegal construction detection and geographical observation can be made after natural disasters.