"IMECE Satellite Successfully Launched into Space"
Turkish imaging satellite IMECE successfully launched into space on May 19th, 2022. The launch program, which had been postponed three times due to weather conditions, was carried out by the Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar and the President of Turkey's Space Technologies Research Institute, Hasan Mandal. The IMECE satellite was sent into space via the Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX along with the AKUP imaging satellite, the KILIÇSAT imaging satellite, and the CONNECTA T2.1 cube satellites from the PLAN-S company.
IMECE, which is located in an orbit synchronized with the sun at an altitude of 680 kilometers, is designed to serve the country in areas such as target identification, detection, natural disasters, and agricultural applications during its design mission life of 5 years. The satellite is equipped with an electro-optical camera with sub-meter resolution, produced for the first time in Turkey. It will help meet Turkey's need for high-resolution satellite imagery using domestic resources. Its flight computer, electric propulsion, orientation and trajectory determination, power and communication subsystems were also produced by Turkey's Space Technologies Research Institute.
The outputs obtained from the IMECE project will form a foundation for new satellites that Turkey will develop in the future, with potential for high-value exports. The satellite successfully passed various tests such as thermal vacuum, vibration, acoustic, and electromagnetic compatibility tests before being sent to the USA in February for launch.
The IMECE satellite weighs around 700 kilograms, with dimensions of approximately 2 meters x 3.1 meters. It can capture an area 1000 kilometers long and 16.73 kilometers wide in one go and download the images to the ground station with a gross data rate of 320 megabytes/second. Its ground station comprises an electro-optical camera, flight computer, electric propulsion, orientation and orbit determination, power and communication subsystems, star trackers, sun detector, response wheel, global positioning system receiver, magnetometer, and antenna with a diameter of 7.3 meters. The satellite uses X-band and S-Band communication systems and has encrypted and secure communication with software for the flight computer, orientation and trajectory, analysis, and ground station.
The launch of the IMECE satellite marks a significant step forward for Turkey's space ambitions and its ability to use domestic resources to advance critical space technologies.
