Göktürk-2
Turkish Earth observation satellite / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Göktürk-2 is an Earth observation satellite designed and developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and built by TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY) and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) for the Turkish Ministry of National Defence.[1][2][3][4]
Mission type | Earth observation |
---|---|
Operator | Turkish Ministry of National Defence |
COSPAR ID | 2012-073A[1] |
SATCAT no. | 39030[1] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY) Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) |
Launch mass | 400 kilograms (880 lb)[2] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | December 18, 2012, 16:12:52 (2012-12-18UTC16:12:52Z) UTC |
Rocket | Chang Zheng 2D |
Launch site | Jiuquan LA-4/SLS-2 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Sun-synchronous |
Inclination | 98 degrees[2] |
Period | 98 minutes[2] |
Göktürk-2 was launched from Jiuquan Launch Area 4 / SLS-2 in China by a Long March 2D space launch vehicle at 16:12:52 UTC on December 18, 2012, one day before the initial schedule due to poor weather conditions in the region. Equipped with state of the art advanced technology developed by Turkey and a series of new enhancements to provide improved high resolution imagery, it was placed at 16:26 UTC into a low Earth orbit of 686 km (426 mi). The first signal from Göktürk-2 was received at 17:39 UTC in the Tromsø Satellite Station, northern Norway.[2][3][4][5]
Produced with 80 per cent indigenously developed technology and 100% domestically developed software,[6] the satellite offers high-resolution imagery of 2.5 m (8.2 ft) resolution at panchromatic, 10 m (33 ft) at multispectral (VNIR) and 20 m (66 ft) at SWIR band.[2] It is Turkey's second national satellite following RASAT, which was launched from Russia on August 17 the same year. For the telecommunication, it has three S band receivers and transmitters. Göktürk-2 later put its solar panels into service, and began the week after the launch to send data and its first images, which were from the US, Brazil, India as well as Turkey's western city of Izmir.[2][3][7][8]