With the announcement of Turkey’s National Space Program, the implementation of programs for the creation of satellites for various purposes has accelerated, Yeni Safak reports. 

Turkey's first communication satellite -- TURKSAT 1A -- was launched on Jan. 24, 1994 but fell into the ocean after 12 minutes and 12 seconds due to a fault with a thruster rocket.

The incident did not affect Ankara's position in any way and the country continued to invest in satellite technology. On Aug. 10 of the same year, a new telecommunications satellite, TURKSAT 1B, was launched into orbit.

As of Jan. 8, 2021, the number of active Turkish satellites in Earth orbit had reached seven, which became possible thanks to the successful launch of the fifth generation telecommunications satellite TURKSAT 5A.

The launch of a geostationary communications satellite, which was created by specialists from Airbus and Damp;S for the needs of Turkey, was carried out from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral in Florida. TURKSAT 5A will start operating in the second half of this year.

The TURKSAT 5B communication satellite is also expected to be launched in the last quarter of 2021.

Under the leadership of the TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute, or TUBITAK UZAY for short, and with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, work continues on the project of the first domestically produced telecommunications satellite -- TURKSAT 6A. This satellite is planned to be launched into orbit in 2022.

Turkey will cover Europe, Africa and western and southern parts of Asia including Indonesia and excluding Russia and China in the communication field with its TURKSAT satellites.