Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at a press conference on February 9, 2021 in Ankara at the ceremony of proclaiming the ten-year National Space Program of Turkey (Milli Uzay Programi) and the opening of the Turkish Space Agency (TUA), announced the ambitious Turkish space plans. "The national space program will put our country in the top league in the global space race," Erdogan said.
Speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a press conference at the ceremony of proclaiming the ten-year National Space Program of Turkey and the opening of the Turkish Space Agency. Ankara, 09.02.2021 (c) Ali Balikci / Anadolu Agency
"Our first goal is to land on the moon by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, and I believe that Turkish engineers will be able to complete this mission," Erdogan said. Noting that the Turkish lunar program will be achieved in two stages, Erdogan said that the first stage will be a hard landing on the Moon using a carrier rocket of national development, which will be launched into orbit at the end of 2023 as part of international cooperation.
"In carrying out this task, we will be one of the countries that managed to reach the Moon, and we will collect the necessary information for the second stage of the mission," Erdogan said.
Erdogan said that in the second stage in 2028, it is planned to launch a fully Turkish-developed Turkish probe into the orbit of the Moon, which will then make a soft landing on the Moon, adding: "By performing a soft landing on the Moon, we will be one of the few countries. who can conduct scientific activities on it." Erdogan stressed that the lunar program will use Turkey's achievements in the field of launch, rocket and control technologies.
"Turkey's second goal is to create a global brand that will compete in the development of next-generation satellites," Erdogan said, adding that Turkish work on the development and production of satellites will be organized within a single body coordinated by TUA.
"We plan to gain a higher share in the global satellite communications market by increasing our competitiveness through this step," Erdogan said. Erdogan also said that as part of its national space program, Turkey plans to create a regional satellite navigation system. He stressed that with this regional navigation system, which will be created by an innovative method using satellites along with ground-based systems, Turkey will stop its external dependence on foreign global positioning systems. "This will pave the way for the development of our own precision navigation applications in the fields of defense, agriculture, urbanisation and autonomous vehicles," the Turkish president said.
Erdogan also said that Turkey plans to build a spaceport while providing access to space. "We must create our domestic rockets to deliver heavy cargo to the Earth's orbit," he stressed. Noting that Turkey's geographical location is not suitable for the creation of a spaceport, Erdogan said that Turkey will cooperate with friendly countries in the most suitable areas.
Erdogan noted that Turkey will improve the efficiency of its astronomical observations and tracking of space objects from Earth. "In this way, we will facilitate the registration and tracking of objects in Earth's orbit," he said.
Stating that Turkey will develop efficient and competent human resources in the space industry, Erdogan said that "the ultimate goal is to send a Turkish citizen to space on a scientific mission."
Key targets of the ten-year National Space Program of Turkey (Milli Uzay Programi) (c) Turkish Space Agency (TUA)
