Turkiye’s satellite completes 5th ignition in journey towards orbit

TURKSAT 6A, Turkiye’s first domestic and national communication satellite, at the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) campus in Ankara, Turkiye on May 14, 2024 [Ahmet Serdar Eser/Anadolu via Getty Images]

Turkish Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said early today that Turksat 6A, Ankara’s first homegrown communications satellite, had completed its fifth and final ignition.

“The fifth and final ignition, which lasted for 5.5 minutes and began at 23:58 (20:58 GMT), was successfully completed,” Uraloglu wrote on X.

“Everything is going smoothly and under control in our space journey,” he added.

Turksat 6A was launched last week into space after ten years of work, bringing the number of Turkiye’s active satellites to nine.

After successfully passing all tests, Turksat 6A was launched into space by Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket on 8 July.

Turksat 1C, the successor of the first communications satellite, Turksat 1B, was launched in 1996, followed by Turksat 2A in 2001, Turksat 3A in 2008, Turksat 4A in 2014, Turksat 4B in 2015 and Turksat 5A and 5B in 2021.

READ: Turkiye’s 1st home-grown communications satellite is the fruit of a decade of work

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