Turkey's first indigenous microsatellite to be launched next year

Lagari, Turkey's first indigenous microsatellite, will be complete this year and launched in the second half of 2019.

The satellite, unveiled at the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2017), is designed to meet Turkey's geographical imaging requirements and provide more flexibility in the area at a low cost.

A subcontract for the microsatellite has been signed with Berlin Space Technologies GmbH. The project is now in the detailed design phase after the preliminary design phase was completed successfully.

Meanwhile, a Launch Service Agreement for the microsatellite was signed with Antrix Corporation Limited.

The microsatellite was developed by the Turkish defense contractor Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Inc. (STM), which for the first time this year entered the "Defense News Top 100" list, one of the most prestigious defense industry lists in the world.

The list is published every year by the U.S.-based military publishing company, Defense News magazine, and is based on the previous year's defense sales.

In addition to STM, which ranked 97th on the list, other defense giants Aselsan, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Roketsan ranked 55th, 64th and 96th on the list, respectively.

Following its unveiling at the IDEF 2017, Lagari has been equipped with a new orientation control system which enables it to gravitate towards the targeted area quicker, as well as with a more advanced camera, which makes it one of the first microsatellites in the world that maintains such advanced weight and resolution specifications in the microsatellite class, according to STM.

Upon Lagari's launch, the company aims to expand the project with a constellation of four to eight microsatellites.