Tags: Turkey, Earth Observation, Gokturk
Publication: WorldBulletin.net
Publication Date: 01/08/2013

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as seen by the novel Gokturk-2 satellite. Image credit: Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology

Turkey’s first high-resolution optical observation satellite, Gokturk-2, has transmitted its first images. The country’s government announced that the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology (TUBITAK) successfully started receiving the images 10 days ago.

Gokturk-2, built by TUBITAK and the Turkish Aerospace Industry Corp., operates at an altitude of approximately 426 miles. The satellite passes over Turkey a total of four times a day capturing images mainly for use of the Turkish Air Force Command. According to the government’s announcement, the first photos are from Turkey’s Antalya province and New Zealand’s Auckland region.

After the satellite was launched from China in December 2012, Turkey revealed its plans to build its own launch station within the next 10 years.

 Full story