Göktürk-II Launched Into Space
After the completion of all processes and being ready to be launched, Göktürk-II had been sent to China from TAI premises on November 6th, 2012. Following the send-off, the functional tests of the satellite at the launching base were successfully completed. Turkey first declared the launching date as December 19, however due to the adverse weather conditions forecasted at the region where the satellite would be launched, it was set on December 18. After the satellite was fuelled and the satellite battery was charged by a special device designed by TÜBİTAK Space Technologies, the National Earth Observation Satellite was launched from Jiuquan-China at 18:12 Turkey time. Göktürk-II was orbited at an altitude of 686 kilometres at 18:26. The first signals were received at 19:39. TÜBİTAK officials stated that the normal operation of the satellite would begin following the deployment of panels. TÜBİTAK officials at launching base in China and at ground stations in Ankara and Norway watched the launch on a live broadcast.
At the time of launch, a ceremony was held at TÜBİTAK Space Technologies located at METU campus. Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Chief of Staff Necdet Özel, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergün, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs, and Communications Binali Yıldırım, Minister of National Education Ömer Dinçer, Minister of National Defence İsmet Yılmaz, Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı and TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Yücel Altunbaşak watched the launch of Göktürk-II on a live broadcast.
"We, as Turkey, are together witnessing a historic moment now. Turkey also launched satellite into space in the past but Göktürk-II, which was launched today, issolid evidence that Turkey has also become confident at this field. We are now amongst 25 countries being capable of manufacturing its own satellite." said Minister Erdoğan at his speech in the ceremony.
Having 450 kg of weight and 2,5 m resolution, Göktürk-II was manufactured in compliance with the satellite development principles applicable in the world. The computer system and software was fully developed by national capabilities and resources. Göktürk-II will be able to transfer the images received from Turkey and the vicinity simultaneously to Turkey. It will also be able to receive images from anywhere in the world. It will tour around the world once in every 98 minutes and pass through North Pole and South Pole in each tour. The satellite will be controlled from 4 different ground stations by 3 different teams. The teams are located at Ankara TÜBİTAK Space Technologies, Ahlatlıbel and at Tromso-Norway. The ground station at Svalbard-Norway will be controlled by a remote computer system. The ground stations in Norway were rented due their proximity to the North Pole and to be able to rapidly and securely accomplish the activation of satellite with extended communication duration for 14 times a day. Following the receipt of the first signals, the data flow such as temperature, voltage and current will begin and such data will be evaluated instantly by the teams located at 3 different locations in the world.The first images are planned to be received from the satellite between December 25 and 30 following the verification tests.
