Türksat 5B ready for business
June 14, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Türksat 5B telecommunication satellite will be put in service today (June 14th), Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has confirmed.
“After a five-month journey [launched by SpaceX on December 19th 2021] Türksat 5B reached orbit on May 17th. Performance and orbit tests were conducted successfully. Now it is time to put the satellite in service,” Karaismailoğlu added.
The new satellite is at its orbital slot of 42 degrees East longitude, and will cover a wide area, including the entire Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, as well as northern, eastern and southern Africa and Turkey’s neighbouring countries.
The satellite was built by Airbus Defense and Space, and ordered back in 2017. Thanks to its onboard electric propulsion it has a potential life expectancy of some 35 years.
Another new craft will also soon enter into Türksat’s fleet. Türksat 6A will launch in 2023 and is being built in Turkey at the TUSAŞ facilities in Ankara.