Artistic rendition of Turkey's under development launch vehicle. Image is courtesy of Rocketsan.

Adnan Tüccar, the SpaceWatch Middle East correspondent for Turkey, has reported that Roketsan, one of that nation’s leading company’s in the aerospace industry, has recently announced their plans going forward with the Turkish Satellite Launch System (SLS) project they signed on with the Turkish government in 2013.

A Rocketsan press released directly before the Turkish International Defence Industry Fair that was held from May 9-12, 2017, revealed the company’s plan to develop an independently funded satellite launch vehicle (SLV). The SLV will be Turkey’s first domestically produced rocket and it will be capable of launching low-Earth-orbiting satellites to an altitude of 500–700 km.

The SLV development is still in the conceptual design phase and is planned to have a liquid propulsion system and falls in line with the SLS project. The SLS project involves a three-fold plan, the first step of which is to develop an SLV for the Turkish government.

Even though the SLV development is a fully private venture by Rocketsan, this will be Turkey’s own launch vehicle to use for government missions. That being said, the SLS project has much bigger and more ambitious goals that require two additional phases. The next steps of the project will be the establishment of both a Satellite Launch Centre and Remote Earth Stations.

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