Türkiye's first spacecraft set for moon mission in 2026

Türkiye aims to complete all processes for its first spacecraft developed with the Lunar Research Program (AYAP) within the scope of its National Space Program and launch the vehicle into space in 2026.

According to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK), the country's 10-year plans and targets were determined within the scope of the National Space Program.

The AYAP, as one of the first of the 10 programs announced, aims to carry out Türkiye's first moon and deep space missions, making it one of the few countries with a presence on the moon.

The first phase of the AYAP aims to explore the moon from orbit and make first contact with the lunar surface, while the second phase aims to land a rover on the surface using the soft landing method.

Within the scope of the first phase of the AYAP, mission operations will be carried out by developing a spacecraft that will reach the lunar orbit from Earth, collect data from there and then contact the lunar surface.

In addition, with the success of the technologies, products, software and equipment to be developed with national resources, the country's international reputation for system development and the ability to carry out challenging mission operations will be increased.

Designed indigenously

AYAP is planning to develop a spacecraft that can operate in lunar orbit (400,000 kilometres or around 249,000 miles from Earth) and is suitable for soft landing.

In addition, the Hybrid Propulsion System developed with domestic facilities is planned to gain space history, and high-resolution images and scientific data related to the origin of water on the moon, mini-magnetosphere formations, surface components, surface temperature and reflection maps and radiation from the lunar surface will be translated into information by scientists in Türkiye.

The spacecraft's system-level design phase has been completed and a detailed design (equipment/module/component development) phase is being carried out.

The qualifications of all equipment to be used on the spacecraft for the mission have been reviewed and the production of qualification models for some equipment has been initiated.

After the equipment passes the qualification test, flight models will be produced and integrated into the spacecraft.

Contracts were also signed for equipment and components with long delivery times, and the planning of all equipment to be used on the spacecraft flight model was completed.

After the production of flight models of the subsystems and equipment that make up the spacecraft, system-level integration will be carried out, followed by environmental (vibration, thermal-vacuum and electromagnetic compatibility) and functional tests.

Although there were collaborations for the procurement of some components and equipment from abroad, the moon mission and the spacecraft were designed indigenously.

The integration, tests and operations of the vehicle will also be carried out by Turkish human capital using its infrastructure.

All processes are planned to be completed in 2026, and the vehicle will be launched the same year.