Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır shared the latest status of the "Lunar Spacecraft Project" developed within the scope of Türkiye's first Moon mission at the "Lunar Research Program Press Conference" held at TÜBİTAK SAGE.
Stating that they have passed an important threshold in the Lunar Research Program, Kacır said, "We are sending our spacecraft, for which we have completed the production, assembly and integration activities to reach the Moon, to our Space Systems Integration and Test Center, USET, within TAI, for the performance of system level environmental tests. I hope that this step we have taken in our journey to Türkiye's first deep space mission will be beneficial for our country and nation." he said.
Kacır pointed out that paradigm shifts in technology offer strategic advantages to Türkiye and said that they are taking firm steps towards their goal of "a fully independent Türkiye in critical technologies". Emphasizing that they demonstrated the first example of this understanding in the defense industry, Kacır underlined that a similar window of opportunity for Türkiye exists in space technologies.
"WE STARTED WORK ON TURKSAT 7A SATELLITE"
Stating that the rapid decrease in launch costs in the last 20 years has made space studies no longer the monopoly of a few countries, Kacır explained that space has now become a field where more countries have a say and where new solutions are developed and rapidly spread in different fields from agriculture to health, from communication to information technologies.
Minister Kacır stated that today, space has become one of the most important areas of struggle for technological superiority, economic competition and strategic independence, as well as scientific discoveries, and said, "We are determined to move our country, which has carried out the National Technology Move, has a global claim in science and technology and always raises its target horizon, among the countries that benefit from the scientific, technological and economic opportunities offered by space at the highest level.
We have built the groundwork that will make this vision possible, with determined steps over the last 23 years, under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. "By investing in our human resources, developing our research and technology infrastructures, and localizing our critical capabilities, we have made Türkiye one of the few countries that design, develop, produce, test and successfully operate their own satellites in space." he said.
Emphasizing that each project they carry out paves the way for new capabilities and gains, Kacır stated that they have started work on the TÜRKSAT 7A satellite, which has high-speed data transmission capacity and flexible coverage features and will accommodate additional mission loads to meet the needs of disaster communication, public services and secure communication. Stating that they have taken steps to create an earth observation satellite architecture that can image larger areas and receive data from the same region more frequently with the new generation constellations İMECE-2 and İMECE-3, Kacır emphasized that they are determined to make the most of the unique opportunities offered by space with the technology ecosystem built and to make space technologies among the driving factors of the country's development.
"WE AIM TO BE THE 9TH COUNTRY TO ACHIEVE THE MOON MISSION"
Underlining that one of the most ambitious and engineering-challenging goals of the National Space Program is the Lunar Research Program, Kacır said, "Only 8 countries have carried out a Moon mission to date. We aim to be the 9th country to carry out a Moon mission with our Lunar Research Program, which we will implement with our own engineering capabilities. Our Lunar Spacecraft, which we plan to launch in the first months of 2027, will reach the polar and circular mission orbit at an altitude of 100 kilometers from the Moon's surface, after a journey of approximately 2 months." "We anticipate that we will operate here for at least 3 months, and we may extend this period to 1.5 years depending on mission performance." made his assessment.
Kacır stated that during the mission, they will examine the interaction of solar winds with the Moon's surface, the formation mechanisms of water on the Moon's surface, the Moon's magnetic fields and the thermal properties of the surface, and will make measurements of the radiation environment on the Moon with domestically developed scientific equipment.
Stating that they aim to deliver the spacecraft to the Moon surface with controlled deceleration maneuvers after the scientific studies are completed, Kacır said that the Hybrid Propulsion System, which they developed with their own means, will be one of the critical elements of this mission.
"WE WILL SEND OUR VEHICLE TO SPACE IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF 2027"
Kacır stated that they will use the system in orbit raising maneuvers and in lunar deorbit launches to reach the lunar surface in the final stage of the mission, and said:
"We have produced our lunar spacecraft, weighing approximately 3.5 tons, which will carry out this scientific mission, with a local production rate of over 80 percent. We have benefited from the critical capabilities such as flight computer, communication, power, thermal control and orbital operations that we developed in the İMECE and TÜRKSAT 6A projects, in our lunar spacecraft. We have completed the production, assembly and integration works of our spacecraft, which is the result of the knowledge we have built up over the years in satellite technologies. With the tests to be carried out, we will meet the challenging conditions that our vehicle will encounter during launch and in the space environment. "We will verify its durability. We will test the space environment with thermal vacuum tests, the launch conditions with structural tests, and the safe and harmonious operation of the systems in our vehicle with electromagnetic compatibility tests."
Kacır explained that after the tests are completed, they will bring the vehicle to TÜBİTAK UZAY's new clean room and integration facility, which is under construction on the METU campus, and after the final checks there, they will send it to Kennedy Cosmodrome for launch. He stated that they aim to send the vehicle into space in the first months of 2027, if weather, field and orbital conditions allow. Stating that they have reached a 77 percent completion level in the program since the beginning of 2022, Kacır stated that in addition to TÜBİTAK UZAY and DeltaV, domestic technology companies and enterprises were also involved in the development and production processes of the vehicle.
Türkiye IS BUILDING A STRONG ECOSYSTEM IN SPACE
Recalling that Türkiye joined the Artemis Consensus, a multilateral agreement aimed at encouraging international cooperation in civil space activities for the Moon and other celestial bodies, with the signing ceremony on August 31, Kacır said:
"As Turkey, we will continue to develop international cooperation in line with the goals of exploring and using space in a peaceful, sustainable way and for the common benefit of all humanity. We will shape the future of space together with nearly 10 thousand participants from all over the world at the 77th International Space Congress, which we will organize in Antalya on 5-9 October 2026. As Turkey, we will be meeting with TUA, TUBITAK and TÜBİTAK in Ankara to build a strong ecosystem similar to the defense industry, step by step, in the field of space." "We continue our efforts to establish a space technologies development zone in cooperation with METU. The spaceport we are building in Somalia will pave the way for Türkiye's independent access to space and will enable us to get a greater share of the space economy by meeting the increasing demand for access to space at the global level."
