Türksat 1C

Turkey will launch its Turksat 5B communications satellite into orbit next month, a senior official said on Nov. 24.

"One of the prominent features of Turksat 5B, which will be launched into an orbital slot at 42 degrees East, is to increase Turkey's Ka-band data communication capacity 15-fold," Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu said in a statement.

Turkey will be among the 10 countries of the world producing communication satellites when it launches the Türksat 6A satellite into space next year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 28.

Having been launched by technology company SpaceX in January, Turkey's fifth-generation communication satellite Turksat 5A is ready for service at 31 east meridians.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is a candidate to launch Turkey's first nationally-built satellite, an official from Türksat said on May 7.         

Turkey signed an agreement with Airbus Defense and Space on Nov. 9 for the production of Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B communications satellites.