Türkiye’s first homegrown communications satellite, Türksat 6A, is set to have its fourth ignition process in its orbital journey on Tuesday, according to Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır.
The satellite was launched into orbit last week, in a move Ankara said would widen the country's satellite coverage and meet its television broadcasting needs. It boosted the number of Türkiye’s active satellites to nine.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the launch marked the opening of a "new phase" for Türkiye in satellite production.
Türksat 6A, a product of yearslong domestic efforts, has already successfully completed the third ignition process of its space journey toward its stable orbit, the country’s Transportation and Infrastructure Minister announced on Sunday.
"Today, we successfully completed the 3rd ignition process, which lasted seven minutes. Türksat 6A continues its historic journey and progresses towards its orbit,” Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on X.
"Our teams carried out the third ignition process planned to bring our national communication satellite Türksat 6A closer to its mission orbit this morning," Kacır similarly said in a post on X.
"The fourth of planned five ignitions will take place two days later, on July 16," he added.
After successfully passing all tests, Türksat 6A was launched into space by Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket last Monday.
With the experience of the Turkish engineers who produced Türksat 6A, Türkiye became one of the few countries capable of producing communication satellites, and eventually looks to become a satellite exporter.
Türksat 1C, the successor of the first communications satellite Türksat 1B, was launched in 1996, followed by Türksat 2A in 2001, Türksat 3A in 2008, Türksat 4A in 2014, Türksat 4B in 2015, and Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B in 2021.
The 4.25-ton Türksat 6A will operate at the 42 degrees East orbital position and its service life will be 15 years in orbit. The satellite is expected to start its service from September, according to authorities.
It will cover Türkiye, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and will serve 4.5 billion people for TV, radio and emergency communications.
