The TURKSAT 5A Satellite was launched Friday, January 8th in the morning using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US state of Florida.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil KARAİSMAİLOĞLU made a speech at an event organized at TURKSAT Headquarters. Turkey’s new communications satellite gave its first signal 35 minutes after launch, the country’s transport and infrastructure minister said on Friday. Adil KARAISMAILOĞLU said the TURKSAT 5A satellite is on the way to settling into its orbit. “This journey will take four months. We will then conduct our tests and the satellite will be activated,” he said. 

KARAİSMAİLOĞLU also gave information about TURKSAT 5B&6B satellites following the launch ceremony and said: “The TURKSAT 5B & 6A satellite programs have been moving forward on their course. The production phase of the TURKSAT 5B Satellite is completed and test campaign has been continuing. We are aiming to launch this satellite in June of 2021. TURKSAT 6A will be launched in the first month of 2022.”

TURKSAT 5A will operate at 31 degrees east in GEO, providing Ku-band broadcast services over portions of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The satellite will enter service in the second quarter of 2021.

TÜRKSAT 5B is a broadband satellite which will operate in Ku- and Ka-bands at 420 East longitude in geostationary orbit. Its HTS (High Throughput Satellite) payload will provide more than 50 Gbps of capacity over a wide coverage including Turkey, the Middle East and large regions of Africa.