The Italian 10.51, the Turkish satellite for Earth observation GÖKTÜRK-14.51, was successfully launched at 1 (local time). The launch was carried out by Arianespace from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana, with a European VEGA launcher.
After the separation of the satellite from the rocket, 57 minutes after the launch, the operations of orbit and satellite test started, managed by the Spatial Center of Fucino of Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33 %). The first telemetry signal was acquired by Fucino 68 minutes after launch.
The GÖKTÜRK-1 program was created by Telespazio, as the prime contractor, and by Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo-Finmeccanica (33%), for the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries of Turkey (SSM, Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı), along with local industrial partners including Tai AS, Aselsan AS, Tubitak Bilgem, Roketsan AS and TR Tecnoloji. The system will be operated by the Turkish Air Force.
Luigi Pasquali, Telespazio CEO, said: "Telespazio is proud to have made this mission possible. GÖKTÜRK-1 is the result of a collaboration between Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space and constitutes a satellite system capable of guaranteeing the end user high performance in terms of quantity and quality of the images provided. I would like to thank SSM and Turkish Air Force for the spirit of great collaboration expressed in this program, as well as the industrial team that contributed to its realization ".
"The success of this launch - said Donato Amoroso, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italy - represents for our company a great goal that confirms Thales Alenia Space's more than thirty years experience in the construction of satellites with optical instrumentation and radar for Earth observation. Last but not least, the value of cooperation with Turkey and its aerospace industries which has created a modern and efficient Integration Center in Ankara".
Telespazio has created the ground segment of the program, including mission control, in-orbit satellite management and data acquisition and processing systems. Furthermore, the company is responsible for launching services and placing them into orbit and testing.
Thales Alenia Space built the observation satellite equipped with a high resolution optical sensor and created the satellite integration and test center in Ankara, an infrastructure inaugurated in the 2015 that can integrate several satellites at the same time.
For the launch of GÖKTÜRK-1 the European launcher VEGA was selected, designed, developed and built in Italy by AVIO through the subsidiary ELV (participated in the 30% by ASI).
The Göktürk-1 satellite has a mass of around 1000 kg and an operating life of seven years. The observation system on board the satellite includes a high-resolution optical instrument, as well as a data storage system to manage compression, storage and downloading of data to the ground.
The satellite will be placed in a synchronous orbit with the Sun, at an altitude of about 700 km.
