INTA SPACETURK A SYNOPSIS OF PAST AND FUTURE
When first founded in year 2001 many wondered how a company determined to operate in the specific field of satellite imaging would ever survive by operating out of Turkey. In order to operate Ikonos, world’s first commercial 1m resolution direct taskable imaging satellite, heavy investment had to be made on the regional ground station and trained personnel also heavy fees had to be paid for the satellite time and maintenance of the system. Difficult times were in front of the company.
In steering of a young and talented management team and picked out of the Turkish defence industry and with a dedicated proactive group of youthful personnel, a major challenge was shouldered. The glittering idea of space business had illusively concealed the underlying difficulties of creating a market from ground and establishing the notion of satellite imagery usage. Much revenue had to be realized where little or no imagery market was available. The market had to be created not only in Turkey but in the surrounding region. Most of the potential customers had no concept of using satellite imagery or even what satellite imagery was. Moreover, many subtleties of operating an imaging satellite had to be discovered and acute expertise had to be gained.
After 6 years of concentrated operational experience and having passed through many stages with success, INTA Spaceturk is now steady in growth better then ever. It has succeeded in creating the markets and it has captured dominance of the region through its loyal growing customer base. Market characteristics have been well identified and penetrated across a wide geography extending beyond Turkey. Imagery products are not only delivered with the highest quality and correct timing but also they are being integrated into turnkey projects. Long term projects based on the European Union and World Bank funds, military and public funds have been contracted and are being implemented. Service contracts have been placed with many customers for tracking and managing thousands of mobile assets based on satellite imagery. More services and products are continuously being developed for flight simulators, 3G telecomm applications, internet based services and special communications applications.
In the satellite access area, skills acquired include overall grasp of low earth orbit satellite access, operational awareness, collection efficiency and high volume production. INTA Spaceturk is now ready to operate and commercialize the best of next generation satellites. Global operators acknowledge INTA Spaceturk’s presence and are well interested in moving forward in cooperation.
Among evolving into the future and advancing with a variety of skills and capabilities, one of INTA Spaceturk’s aims is to commercialize national imaging satellites as they become online in the upcoming years. INTA Spaceturk is more than ready to contribute significantly to the funding of our national satellite programs through international collaboration in marketing and sales of the satellites’ excess imaging capacity locally and globally.
