Engineers of Türkiye’s 1st indigenous Earth observation satellite explain process

By Sevgi Ceren Gokkoyun and Tayfun Coskun

CALIFORNIA, United States (AA) - The engineers of Türkiye’s first indigenous Earth observation satellite explained the process leading up to the launch Saturday.

The Turkish-made pioneering IMECE satellite blasted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US state of California at 0648 GMT.

It is the first time that Türkiye will have an electro-optical satellite camera with sub-meter resolution in orbit.

IMECE's orbit will be sun-synchronous at an altitude of 680 kilometers (422.5 miles) and serve in the areas of defense, disaster management, environment and urbanization and agriculture and forestry.

Project Manager Emir Serdar Aras said preparations for the launch have been ongoing since Feb. 22 -- the day the satellite was taken to the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Teams started a launch campaign 35 days after shipping, said Aras. “We have done the final checks and tests of the satellite here. We went through a very busy period. The last minutes of six years of labor. Here, too, we completed all our tests by working three shifts” for seven days a week, 24 hours a day “and got our IMECE satellite ready to launch.”

Stressing that IMECE is a sub-meter resolution earth observation satellite, Aras said it consists of hardware, electronics and mechanics.

"Two of the biggest reasons why we are talking about IMECE today are the Rasat and Gokturk 2 satellites. We reflected the knowledge we gained in the field of space technologies to the IMECE satellite,” said Aras.

Launch Business Package Leader Meric Ucan said it was his first launch operation and he was very excited.

Ucan said it is more difficult to explain what he felt waiting for the first signal rather than the launch. “There is everyone’s effort here. Hopefully, there will be more,” he said.

Power Subsystem Business Package Leader Mehmet Karahan pointed out that the process after separation of the satellite from the rocket was more important than the launch. "We left the rocket. We opened the solar panels in the sixth minute. We were very happy when we saw the power generation."

The first signal was received from IMECE, Türkiye’s industry and technology minister said Saturday.

The satellite has settled in its orbit and the first high-resolution image will be received in two weeks, Mustafa Varank wrote on Twitter.