As part of the Lunar Research Program, one of the critical milestones within the National Space Program, the technical training program organized by the TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute for Turkish Space Agency (TUA) researchers has been successfully completed.
Conducted at our Institute’s facilities from June 22 to 26, 2026, the “Spacecraft Systems Engineering and Lifecycle Training” served to share our engineering expertise with TUA. Structured around our Institute’s competencies in design, assembly, integration and testing (AIT), as well as launch and orbital operations, the program featured courses delivered by our researchers. The lectures covered fundamental areas, including space missions, mission analysis and design, systems engineering processes, and spacecraft architecture.
The program began with a training session titled “Spacecraft Systems Engineering and Design” by Lunar Research Program Project Manager Dr. Burak Yağlıoğlu. The sessions then focused on the design, subsystem, and operational processes of two major milestones in Türkiye’s space technologies: İMECE, our first indigenous and national sub-meter resolution earth observation satellite, and TÜRKSAT 6A, our first national communication satellite. Exploring these flagship projects, Lunar Research Program and TÜRKSAT 6A Project Technical Lead Faik Ercan Karagöz covered “Geostationary Orbit Communication Satellites: TÜRKSAT 6A,” and our researcher Ömer Furkan Gülbaş provided training on “Low Earth Orbit Earth Observation Satellites: İMECE.”
Alongside theoretical sessions, participants were introduced to our Institute’s infrastructures, receiving technical briefings at our clean room and ground station facilities. In this framework, the training on “Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration, Testing, and Ground Station” was led by our Product Assurance Group Leader Hakan Asan; Assembly, Integration and Test Group Leader Mustafa Türkmenoğlu, and our researchers Doğukan Yavuz and Muhammed Sait Bayat.
In the concluding session, the microgravity research carried out under the Turkish Astronaut and Science Mission (TABM) Project were discussed by Türkiye’s second astronaut, Tuva Cihangir Atasever. The program concluded with the presentation of certificates to the participants during a ceremony attended by TUA Vice President Fatih Dulkan and TÜBİTAK UZAY Deputy Director Bülent Avenoğlu.
Aimed at supporting Türkiye’s qualified human resources potential in the field of space technologies, we intend for this training program to contribute to future strategic space missions, most notably the Turkish Lunar Mission.
