Türkiye’s Space and Satellite History

Reading space history through more than launch counts

Türkiye’s satellite expertise developed through communications, Earth observation and experimental missions together. This dossier follows observation and small satellites; the commercial Türksat family is covered separately. Design, manufacture, launch and operations are different capabilities. Rocket lift-off, deployment from a station and commissioning may also have different dates.

2003: BİLSAT builds technology and expertise

Launched on 27 September 2003, BİLSAT was an Earth-observation project carried out by TÜBİTAK UZAY with the objective of technology transfer. Its gains extended beyond imagery: it also established infrastructure including a ground station, clean room and design and operations training. The ÇOBAN camera and GEZGİN image-processing board contributed spaceflight experience for domestic equipment. BİLSAT retired in August 2006. Although its pioneering historical role endures, it should not be added to today’s operational satellite list.

[1] TÜBİTAK UZAY

2011: RASAT and the image archive

Designed and manufactured in Türkiye, RASAT launched on 17 August 2011. It operated for approximately eleven years against a three-year design life, providing experience in long-term observation-technology operations. Camera data supported areas including mapping, agriculture, disaster monitoring and urban planning. The mission’s end does not remove the value of its image archive or the people it trained. TÜBİTAK UZAY gives the retirement date as 23 August 2022; the news item dated 28 August announced mission completion to the public.

[2] TÜBİTAK UZAY · [3] TÜBİTAK

GÖKTÜRK-2 and GÖKTÜRK-1: Different paths within the same family

Launched on 18 December 2012, GÖKTÜRK-2 brought TÜBİTAK UZAY and TUSAŞ’s development expertise into high-resolution observation. National design, production and testing strengthened personnel and systems-development infrastructure. GÖKTÜRK-1, launched on 5 December 2016, was a separate project involving an international division of work. Alongside TUSAŞ’s engineering and production contributions, acquiring the Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre was important. Presenting GÖKTÜRK-1 as an entirely domestic design, or GÖKTÜRK-2 as the second satellite under the same contract, erases these differences.

[4] TUSAŞ · [5] TUSAŞ

2023: İMECE and sub-metre observation

İMECE was sent into space on 15 April 2023. Through sub-metre-resolution electro-optical observation capability developed in Türkiye, it built expertise in cameras and other subsystems as well as the satellite platform. TÜBİTAK’s statements from 2025 document operation in orbit and entry into the Air Force inventory. İMECE-2 and İMECE-3, by contrast, are new constellation projects under development. The announced years 2027 and 2028 should be read as the target schedule in that statement, not as completed flights.

[6] TÜBİTAK UZAY · [7] TÜBİTAK

CubeSats: Students encounter a real space system

ITUpSAT1, developed at ITU, launched on 23 September 2009; TURKSAT-3USAT, intended for amateur communications, launched on 26 April 2013. Students participated in design, testing and ground-station operations. USTTL’s environmental testing and integration infrastructure allowed systems engineering learned in class to become real mission responsibility. Small size does not mean an easy mission: power, communications, attitude and thermal balance must be solved within the same limited volume. The importance of university projects lies not only in satellite numbers but in the people who experience these processes.

[8] Istanbul Technical University · [9] Istanbul Technical University

Transport to a station and deployment into independent orbit

UBAKUSAT travelled to the International Space Station on a Dragon cargo flight on 2 April 2018. Deployment from the station into independent orbit took place on 11 May; ITU’s ground station confirmed communications and command exchange that day. Combining the initial rocket launch and the start of a satellite’s free flight into one date is misleading for such missions.

[10] ITU USTTL · [11] ITU USTTL · [12] TAMSAT – Project Partner

Grizu-263A: From Zonguldak to orbit

The pocket satellite of Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University’s Grizu-263 team launched on Falcon 9 on 13 January 2022. The team reported separation and first signals approximately one hour later. The name Grizu-263 commemorates the 263 miners killed in the 1992 Kozlu mining disaster. This work turned the sustained efforts of a student community, advisers and supporters into a real orbital mission. A model-satellite competition and a pocket satellite in orbit are different achievements; each should be recognised within its own scope.

[13] Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University / Grizu-263

Not every mission remains operational

QB50’s HAVELSAT and BeEagleSat were small scientific satellite missions deployed from the station in 2017. ITU’s HAVELSAT summary dated 2026 records the mission period as 2017–2019. A launch announcement alone does not verify current functionality; the table distinguishes retired satellites and dated mission records.

[14] Istanbul Technical University · [15] ITU USTTL project lead / TUYAD workshop