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Türkiye's satellite operator TURKSAT has entered the final stage of development for its 7A satellite and is preparing to sign production agreements in the near future, the company's acting general manager said Thursday.
Mehmet Sari, speaking to reporters in Aksaray on the sidelines of a student satellite competition, said an official announcement on the 7A project would follow soon. "Our work on the 7A satellite has reached its final stage. We are about to sign the agreements related to production," Sari said, adding that details would be made public shortly.
Sari traveled to Aksaray to follow the 11th TURKSAT Model Satellite Competition, an event organized jointly by TURKSAT AS and TEKNOFEST. He described the competition as an important contest tied to Türkiye's technological future, saying it helps shape the trajectory of young people and gives them motivation.
Without competitive stakes to work toward, Sari said, enthusiasm among students tends to fade regardless of how much they are encouraged academically. He noted that teams of seven or eight young people build model satellites and go through that process firsthand, calling these experiences "invisible values" that can later translate into companies exporting technology abroad.
Sari framed TURKSAT's push into satellite development as part of a broader global shift, saying communications and economic activity are increasingly moving toward space-based infrastructure.
He said the company felt it necessary to take serious steps in space technology and was moving forward with that determination, adding that TURKSAT was tracking the steps taken by other countries and trying to keep pace.
He said TURKSAT's vision is to keep up with Türkiye's developing space and defense industry technology and to meet its full range of needs, and that the company expects continued support from younger generations coming up behind it. "Türkiye needs us to do whatever we can to help it reach the top globally," Sari said.
TURKSAT operates Türkiye's fleet of communications satellites and is a state-linked company central to the country's satellite broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure.
TEKNOFEST, with which TURKSAT co-organizes the model satellite competition, is a Turkish aerospace and technology festival that features contests aimed at engaging students and young engineers in fields including aviation, satellites and robotics.
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