Türkiye set to launch its first observation satellite

IMECE is scheduled to launch tomorrow at 09:48 Turkish time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the United States.

The IMECE project, which began in 2017, has made significant advances in six years that will serve as the foundation for next-generation satellite platforms.

The first sub-meter electro-optical satellite in Türkiye

The IMECE Satellite, developed within the scope of a project coordinated by the Ministry of National Defense and the Presidency of Defense Industries of the Presidency of Türkiye, and supported by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget Department of the Presidency of Türkiye and the TÜBİTAK 1007 programme, will be added to the Air Force Command's inventory after orbital tests are completed.

With the launch of IMECE, Türkiye will make space history by launching an electro-optical satellite camera with sub-meter resolution developed with domestic and national resources for the first time.

IMECE, which will meet Türkiye's need for high-resolution satellite imagery, will simultaneously orbit the sun at an altitude of 680 kilometers.

The satellite, which can take images from anywhere in the world without any geographical restrictions, will help Türkiye in a variety of ways, including target detection and diagnosis, natural disasters, mapping, and agricultural applications.

The satellite’s design duty life is set to be five years

The satellite's design duty life, which can be used for civil and security purposes, is set to be five years. For the first time in Türkiye, a space-compatible electro-optical camera was designed and manufactured as part of the project.

As a result of providing images from foreign satellites, Türkiye has become a producer and even exporter of its own camera.

Aside from the electro-optical camera, the IMECE Project produced locally for the first time the electric propulsion system, sun detector, star tracks, response wheel, global positioning system receiver, magnetometer, and magnetic torque rod.

As a result, Türkiye has evolved into a country capable of designing and manufacturing satellite avionics systems from the ground up.

IMECE's features

Weight: approximately 700 kilograms

Dimensions: approximately 2 metres x 3.1 metres

Imaging capability: Can capture an area of 1,000 kilometers in length and 16.73 kilometers in width in a single shot and download the captured images to the ground station at a gross data rate of 320 megabytes per second.

Locality: Specifically, an electro-optical camera, a flight computer, electric propulsion, orientation and orbit determination, power and communication subsystems, star tracks, a sun detector, a response wheel, a global positioning system receiver, a magnetometer, and a ground station with a 7.3-meter-diameter antenna.

Communication with X-band and S-Band communication systems, as well as flight computer software, orientation and trajectory software, analysis software, and ground station software, is encrypted and secure. (ILKHA)