Göktürk-2

The Turkish Göktürk-2 Satellite was manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. and is operated by the Turkish Ministry of Defence. The satellite will serve optical reconnaissance purposes and other Earth Observation purposes serving civil users. Göktürk-2 has a launch mass of about 450 Kilograms and features three deployable, but fixed, Solar Arrays that are installed on three sides of the hexagonal satellite body. The spacecraft carries an optical payload consisting of multispectral, infrared, stereoscopic imagers as well as a pushbroom camera.

Göktürk will provide a ground resolution of about 2.5 meters. The satellite will communicate with ground stations for 42 minutes each day to downlink acquired imagery and receive uplink commands. The primary ground station for the Göktürk program is located near Ankara, Turkey, using X-Band and S-Band communication frequencies to communicate with the satellite. Onboard image compression is provided by the satellite featuring lossless and near-lossless compression. Images will be stored in a 15Gbit memory. Göktürk will operate from a 700-Kilometer, 98-degree Sun-Synchronous Orbit with a planned mission duration of at least 5 years.

Göktürk-2 will serve a number of applications including disaster monitoring & response, mapping, environmental monitoring and scientific purposes.