Türksat is the name of a series of Turkish

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s operated or projected by the state-owned Türksat A.Ş. Satellite telecommunication is provided by the Gölbaşı Ground Station in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Missions

Satellites

Türksat 1A

Türksat 1A Türksat 1A was a Turkish communications satellite as part of a project to form an instant network with two geosynchronous satellites that is supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and Aérospatiale of France. Turkey's first spacec ...

was the first attempt of the project and launched by

Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was a European expendable rocket, expendable launch vehicle in the Ariane (rocket family), Ariane family, developed by the (CNES), the Government of France, French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). The manufacturi ...

from

Centre Spatial Guyanais The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

Kourou Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

on 24 January 1994. Due to the failure of the launcher, the satellite exploded in the atmosphere before reaching its orbit.

Türksat 1B

After the loss of Turksat 1A, Türksat 1B was successfully located at 42°E orbit on 11 August 1994. After the orbital tests, Turksat 1B was put into service on 10 October 1994. Turksat 1B has three different coverage areas,

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. The satellite carries 16 transponders, 10 of 36 MHz, 6 of 72 MHz operating in K_u-band (11–14

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in ter ...

). There are 4 transponder switching capability between Turkey and Central Europe, and 3 between Turkey and Central Asia. Turksat 1B provides TV and radio broadcasting, data and telephone transmissions. On the other hand, TES (Telephony Earth Station) Project and

Internet Broadcasting Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

Systems (including 40 southeast rural area IBS) are also transmitting from Türksat 1B.

Türksat 1C

After the Turksat 1A launch failure,

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

Company started building a new satellite under the insurance terms of the Turkey system contract. Modifying the contract with Aérospatiale, Türksat 1C coverage area was enlarged by two big zones different from Turksat 1B coverage areas. Turksat 1C was designed for covering Turkey on west spot and Europe on east spot so as to serve simultaneously between Turkey and Europe with Turkey and Central Asia and to provide direct connection between Europe and Central Asia. Turksat 1C was successfully launched at 31.3°E position on 10 July 1996. Completing the orbital tests, this satellite shifted from longitude 31.3°E to 42°E. After this process which took 17 days, the broadcast traffic of the Turksat 1B was transferred to Turksat 1C. Finally when these processes finished Turksat 1B was shifted with similar orbital manoeuvres to 31.3°E position. On 16 July 2008, all traffic on Turksat 1C was transferred to Turksat 3A. After this date Turksat 1C was shifted at 31.3°E. It is being used in inclined orbit.

Türksat 2A

Turksat Satellite Systems continued progress regarding the need of new satellites having multiple channels, larger coverage, and backup capability like the other satellite operator satellites in the international market. To serve with a larger coverage area for resident customers and to compete with the other satellite operators in the literal sense, the new satellite would be located at the same position with Turksat 1C.

Türk Telekom Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. () is a state-owned Turkish telecommunications company. Türk Telekom was separated from Turkish Post (PTT) in 1995. Türk Telekom Group provides integrated telecommunication services for PSTN, GSM, and wideband I ...

set up a joint venture company with Aérospatiale (merged by

Alcatel Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

, then

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...

), called EurasiaSat, which would be in charge of purchasing a new-generation satellite named Turksat 2A (also known as Eurasiasat 1). Turksat 2A started commercial service on 1 February 2001, with the same 42°E location as Turksat 1C. Turksat 2A satellite carries a payload of 34 high-powered transponders consisting of 22 - 33 MHz fixed-beam transponders and 12 36 - MHz transponders with two steerable beams. Turksat 2A BSS Band fixed-beam transponders have two coverage zones like Turksat 1C: # West Zone covers the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

in the west,

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n countries in the north,

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

in the south, and

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

in the east. # East Zone covers the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in the west,

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in the north,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in the south, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

national boundary in the east. Inside of the

footprint Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. The ...

such as south Asia and

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

can be accessed over the Turksat 2A FSS Band steerable-beam transponders. On 18 September 2014, all traffic on Turksat 2A was transferred to Turksat 4A. However, Turksat 2A will broadcast a few TV channels until its end of mission in 2016.

Türksat 3A

Turksat 3A satellite will enable Turksat to offer telecommunication services as well as direct TV broadcasting services through a broader area than its existing satellites covering

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

. With the help of its switchable transponders, Turksat 3A will act as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Türksat 3A's Turkey coverage has been specially designed to provide very efficient gain for broadband applications like

VSAT A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a satellite dish, dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 ...

services giving customers low-cost, up-link systems. Based on

Spacebus 4000B2, Turksat 3A is fitted with 24 Ku-band transponders and offers beginning of life power of about 8 kW. Positioned at 42°E, Turksat 3A will weight 3060 kg at launch and will replace Turksat 1C satellite. Turksat 3A was launched by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

atop an Ariane 5ECA

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

, along with the British Skynet 5C satellite, in a dual-payload launch on 12 June 2008 at 22:05:02

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

, from

ELA-3 ELA-3 () is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The complex was first used in June 1996 in support of the now retired Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespac ...

at the

Türksat 4A

Turksat 4A was successfully launched from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

at 23:09 UTC on 14 February 2014. After three months of orbital and subsystem tests, Turksat 4A was successfully transferred from its temporary orbit at 50°E to a position at 42°E. The satellite started broadcasting on 15 July 2014. With Turksat 4A, Turksat AS offers telecommunication and direct TV broadcasting services throughout Turkey, as well as in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Turksat 4A provides Ku-band high-power direct TV broadcasting channels and both C- and Ka-band communications channels.

Türksat 4B

Turksat 4B was successfully launched from the

at 20:40

on 16 October 2015.

References

Bibliography

* Guy Lebègue,

, Cannes, France, (trad. Robert J. Amral), « Turksat: A Turnkey Satellite », in '' Revue aerospatiale'', N°72, October 1990,

External links

* * * * {{Satcomm Communications satellites of Turkey Telecommunications in Turkey Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (Turkey)