The GÖKTÜRK 1 national reconnaissance and military intelligence satellite, which arrived at TAI facilities by plane from France on May 7, 2015, and is targeted to be launched into space at the end of 2016, is undergoing its final preparations to become operational.
GÖKTÜRK 1 is a satellite system that will enable the acquisition of high-resolution images for military intelligence purposes from any region on Earth without geographical restrictions. It will also meet the image needs of many civilian activities, such as monitoring forest areas, tracking illegal construction, assessing damage as quickly as possible after natural disasters, determining crop yields, and producing geographical map data. In addition to these purposes, the project has established an international standard satellite assembly, integration, and testing center at TUSAŞ, where the integration and testing of all satellites weighing up to 5 tons can be carried out domestically.
The contract for the GÖKTÜRK 1 project was signed between the Undersecretariat of Defence Industries of the Ministry of National Defence and TELESPAZIO on July 13, 2009, and entered into force on July 19, 2009.
In the project, which is being carried out under the main contractor TELESPAZIO, TUSAŞ directly participates in the work packages for which it is responsible to TELESPAZIO. In addition to direct participation, some components of the GÖKTÜRK 1 Satellite are also manufactured by TUSAŞ.
Within the scope of the GÖKTÜRK 1 project, in addition to developing technology, expert human resources, and infrastructure for space and satellite systems, the establishment of a Satellite Assembly, Integration, and Test Center, a critical infrastructure for the domestic production of our country's future observation and communication satellites, can be defined as one of the project's strategic achievements.
