Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, made inspections at TÜBİTAK UZAY Technologies Research Institute. TÜBİTAK UZAY Institute Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lokman Kuzu gave a briefing on the Institute's activities, and TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. A. Arif Ergin, Vice Presidents Prof. Dr. Mehmet Çelik, Dr. Orkun Hasekioğlu and Secretary General Arif Koyuncu were also present at the event.
When asked by journalists during the inspections about the allegations that work on the development of the domestic communication satellite TÜRKSAT 6A had been halted, Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, said that no project at TÜBİTAK had been halted and that they would never accept such a thing. Explaining that the TÜRKSAT 6A project is ongoing and that the work is progressing in accordance with the set schedule, Işık said, "Hopefully, the project will be completed in 2019. There is no stoppage or disruption at the moment."
Işık informed that other satellite works are also ongoing. In the meantime, TUBITAK experts are working intensively to produce the lenses in satellites with domestic facilities, Işık said, adding, "The fact that all these are being done in Turkey makes our country an important actor."
Giving information about the drones developed by TÜBİTAK for use in precision agriculture applications, Işık said that traditional agriculture will now be supported by space technologies. Explaining that within the scope of the project, agricultural areas will be analyzed with images taken from satellites and drones and precision agriculture applications will be developed, Işık noted that detailed analysis of the products grown will be carried out using hyperspectral images.
In his presentation, TÜBİTAK Space Institute Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lokman Kuzu briefed Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, on the TÜRKSAT 6A, İMECE and HALE projects. In addition, the HALE Propulsion Engine Demo and the Communication Modules produced in the İMECE Project were also examined on site.