Turkish Aviation and Space Workshop Accomplished
The Turkish Aviation and Space Workshop lasting for two days were launched with the opening remarks of the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Işık and TÜBİTAK Vice President Dr. Orkun Hasekioğlu and ended with the assessment of TÜBİTAK President Prof. A. Arif Ergin.
In his speech at the Turkish Aviation and Space Worksop, Prof. A. Arif Ergin stated that space technologies were composed of a wide area covering the design, launch, placing into orbit and useful data transfer of the space vehicles serving to all types of purposes such as communication, defence, navigation and astronomy and added, “Those who have a say in such areas will have a say in the world. We also wish to elevate our aviation and space industries to the level where they are able to compete with the world and we are exerting all efforts to realize this dream”.
Underlining that while realizing the projects in this area TÜBİTAK aimed to own the capability of indigenously researching, developing, producing and directing the systems and technologies fulfilling the national security requirements; Ergin emphasized the need for worldwide competition, cooperation or mutual dependency regarding systems and technologies.
Ergin touched upon the fact that the space studies have been progressing at full steam since the 2000s and turned into a worldwide competition area and continued, “USA being in the first place, Europe, countries such as Russia, China, Japan, India, Canada and Brazil are forming a resource for space studies reaching to a total of 200 billion US$. Within the scope of the studies aiming the year 2050, manned space travels to other planets and detailed planet examinations are planned. That being said, we have to join our forces, knowledge and experience”.
Mentioning that Turkey had to establish a sustainable national space and aviation strategy infrastructure, Ergin continued, “This could merely be achieved through supporting the functioning of the supply chain, smoothing shareholders’ access to existing resources, increasing R&D investments and extending their scope, identification of new R&D projects, creation of comprehensive road maps within the scope of technologic area, preventing repetition and researching the dual-use potential of civilian-military technologies. In the conclusion, our gains in space and aviation areas will create a series of advantages in a wide variety of areas from disaster management to agriculture, from meteorology to urban planning, from defence to country’s welfare”.
At the Workshop; Air Forces personnel presented five declarations and the academicians participating from various universities presented seven declarations.
