TÜRKSAT General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay stated that work for the Türksat 7A satellite will begin soon and said, “Our other satellites will also come. A satellite industry has been formed in Turkey. This is a source of pride.” he said. INSECSPACE’26, of which Anadolu Agency (AA) is the Global Communication Partner, was held in cooperation with the Turkish Space Agency (TUA), TÜRKSAT, TÜBİTAK UZAY, Telecommunications Satellite and Broadcasting Businessmen’s Association (TUYAD) and MONIN.
This year’s event, whose theme was “Safe Use of Innovative Technologies in Satellite Systems”, was held at the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) Conference Hall. In his speech here, Atalay stated that space has become a field of interest for everyone and has become a new area of sovereignty for many countries. Therefore, “The future is in the sky.” Underlining that the slogan is valid today as it was 100 years ago, Atalay said, “As TÜRKSAT, we use a certain segment of space.
Currently, there are approximately 14,500 active satellites in space. 90 percent of them operate in low orbit. We know that a low orbit satellite operator has a target of launching 42 thousand satellites and is launching them gradually. However, there are approximately 3-4 thousand satellites that have completed their life in space and have become ‘garbage’.” he said. Atalay shared various information about the features of the satellites and said that their satellites are located at 36 thousand kilometers and that traditional satellite operators are still operating here to a significant extent.
“We signed a cooperation agreement with two satellite companies in China.” Expressing that Türksat 6A is also a national pride, Atalay said: “We also have three observation satellites in Turkey. Again, there are many cube satellites produced by various universities and companies in our country. Türksat 7A is coming, paper work is in the final stage, hopefully work for its production will begin. Our other satellites will also come.
A satellite industry has emerged in Turkey. This is flattering. “Here, we need to look at this as an outcome of our recent localization, nationalization and national technology move.” Stating that everything should be done without being dependent on external sources, Atalay said, “We need to be economical, but we need to produce everything ourselves that will not pose a risk in terms of security, performance and all other accessibility.” he said.
Explaining that the National Technology Move is a vision initiated for this purpose, Atalay said, “Therefore, thank God, we are moving on that path. An important industry has formed in Turkey and will continue to form. This is the geopolitical advantage our region provides us. China is rapidly developing in every field, including in the satellite-space field, but it has no contact with the West. The West excludes it, it looks coldly at the West.
We are at a point where we have good relations with both parties. We have now signed cooperation agreements with two satellite companies in China. That We complete the chain in between. This will make us more effective in the international arena.” he said. The target for next year is the Moon. TUA President Yusuf Kıraç also drew attention to space studies in the world and pointed out that it is becoming increasingly important for countries to reach space independently due to wars and various problems.
Kıraç stated that if a country does not have the ability to access space, such as its own spaceport and rocket, it may face serious problems in the future, and emphasized the importance of the National Space Program targets in this sense. Kıraç also touched upon the “Moon Mission” and made the following assessment: “We aim to become the 7th country to reach the Moon next year, hopefully. We are trying to do this with our own engineers, our own organizations, TÜBİTAK UZAY, DeltaV and many institutions that support them.
Currently, integration tests are continuing at full speed. They also made an agreement with SpaceX that will take us into earth orbit, in the first half of 2027, the exact date has not been determined yet, but we hope to send it in June. What will this gain us? In fact, the hybrid propulsion system developed by DeltaV will provide transfer features between satellites and orbits. Türkiye is currently building its own spaceport in a third country, Somalia, and construction continues.
With God’s permission, in a short time, companies from different countries are also submitting letters of intent. Because there is also demand. We haven’t announced it officially yet, I’m explaining this to you, but we’re keeping it a little secret, but everyone knows it now. Hopefully, that place will definitely improve Turkey. Because having such an infrastructure will encourage you to produce rockets. “What can we do today?
We need to catch up with these new technologies, especially rocket technologies.” A record in the number of articles. Emphasizing that the world space economy has exceeded 600 billion dollars and is expected to reach approximately 2 trillion dollars in 2035, Kıraç said that the state has made the necessary investments and the private sector should also direct its capital and entrepreneurs here. Kıraç stated that the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) will be held in Turkey for the first time this year and underlined that all the players of the sector, academics, institutes and people who are very good in their fields will meet in Antalya.
Giving information about the articles written, Kıraç said: “The highest number of articles to date was received in Milan two years ago, they broke a record with approximately 7 thousand articles. This year in Antalya, we, thanks to all our organizations, supported us, we gave campus speeches, went to universities, went to our institutes, and our institutes themselves encouraged their employees. We received approximately 8 thousand 300 articles.
You know what’s more pleasing? This is the first time in 77 years that so many articles have come from one country. 1810 articles came from Turkey. We have participated with a maximum of 60-70 articles so far. The good news is that as of last week, nearly 700 articles were accepted.” “Our aim is to lay the foundation for strategic collaborations.” INSECSPACE’26 Conference Chairman Ali Yazıcı said that they met at the meeting, which is the intersection point of space technologies, satellite systems and cyber security, to discuss one of the most strategic areas that shape the future.
Emphasizing that space is no longer just an area of scientific discoveries or technological advances, but has become the cornerstone of economic competition, technological sovereignty, national security and strategic independence, Yazıcı said: “Recent global developments, regional conflicts and increasing geopolitical tensions clearly show that satellite systems have become indispensable in all areas of life, from communication to defense, from logistics to critical infrastructure management.
Cyber threats, supply chain vulnerabilities, space debris risks, electronic warfare activities, jamming and data security risks directly affect not only the performance of space infrastructures, but also their reliability, durability and sustainability. Therefore, INSECSPACE’26 is not just a conference but a platform where collective intelligence, strategic vision and intersectoral cooperation come together. “Our goal is to develop a security-focused innovation culture within the space ecosystem, to bring together stakeholders from public institutions, private sector, defense industry, academia and R&D communities, and to lay the foundation for future strategic collaborations.” After the opening speeches, awards were presented to the sponsors, and Economy-Finance News Director Serhat Akkan received the plaque given to Anadolu Agency within the scope of the Global Communication Partnership.
Source: AA
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