Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır visited the Governorship within the scope of the Uşak program and attended the Youth Meeting held at Uşak University.
Speaking at the meeting attended by Turkey’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı, Kacır stated that Turkey has a median population age of 33, making it 10-15 years younger compared to European countries, and emphasized that Turkish youth have recently achieved remarkable accomplishments.
Minister Kacır stated:
“Turkey has presented a remarkable success story in defense and aviation over the past 20 years, and this success story is thanks to the Turkish youth. Projects of pride for Turkey have been developed by engineering teams composed of young individuals like you. The sons and daughters of the Turkish nation have made their mark on the sky with projects such as Bayraktar, Anka, Akıncı, Aksungur, Hürkuş, Hürjet, Atak, Gökbey, Kızılelma, and Kağan. It seems that the children of this nation have no inferiority to the world. When the obstacles and barriers in front of them are removed, the children of this nation can produce the highest technological products in the world.”
Kacır emphasized their intention to continue the success stories with Turkish youth and mentioned the development story of TEKNOFEST.
Kacır stated that TEKNOFEST is an unparalleled social mobilization and a wave of innovation in the world, highlighting their intense efforts to carry the success story in defense and aviation to space.
He announced that they will launch the first national communication satellite, TÜRKSAT 6A, into space on July 8, 2024, and Turkey will be one of the 11 countries capable of producing their own communication satellites. Kacır said, “All of these are projects in which young people like you are involved, pioneers of the projects. The average age of our development teams is 27-28. Therefore, we need many more young people on this journey. Today, we have 3,000 companies and 80,000 personnel in defense industry. Thanks to this, we have been able to increase our defense industry exports from $250 million to $5.5 billion. This enabled us to complete critical projects.”
Hybrid rocket motor technology
Kacır expressed their desire to build a much larger ecosystem in space and concluded his words as follows:
“A paradigm shift is taking place in space technologies. Ten years ago, 100 satellites were sent into space annually. Now, 2,000 satellites are sent every year. Low-orbit constellation satellites provide communication and internet services around the Earth. Ultimately, all of these developments open up new opportunities for countries like Turkey. With this understanding, we initiated the Moon Program. It is a cooperative effort to develop a satellite weighing approximately 600 kilograms that operates at an altitude of 600 kilometers. TÜRKSAT 6A will operate at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers and weigh approximately 4,250 kilograms. However, our goal is to develop a spacecraft that will reach the Moon, 380,000 kilometers away, and ignite our own national hybrid rocket motor. This country has the means and capabilities to do this. We are one of the top four countries in hybrid rocket motor technology worldwide. If we succeed in reaching the Moon with our own spacecraft through this technology, we will be the first country to achieve this and hopefully develop spacecraft for interorbital transfers competitively and export them worldwide.”
Governor Turan Ergün, AK Party Uşak deputies Ismail Güneş and Fahrettin Tuğrul, Uşak University Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş, AK Party Uşak Provincial Chairman Himmet Yaşar, and many students attended the program.
Later, Minister Kacır visited Uşak Mayor and AK Party Uşak Mayoral Candidate Mehmet Çakın in his office and met with sector representatives in a closed-door meeting at the Uşak Leather Organized Industrial Zone Directorate.
source: aa.com.tr/ prepared by Melisa Beğiç