Roketsan has moved to a new phase in its work in the space field. Roketsan's membership in the International Astronautical Federation was approved. Roketsan received its membership certificate signed by IAF President Clay Mowry at the 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
IAF, established in Paris in 1951 to keep the space economy alive and develop the space ecosystem by bringing together different elements operating in space, is the world's largest space organisation, with over 500 members from 75 countries. IAF provides a platform to discuss current developments in the sector with the International Astronautical Congress it organizes every year. Turkiye has completed its application for the congress, which started on October 2 and lasted in Baku until October 6, to be held in Antalya in 2026. The result of the 2026 candidacy, in which Türkiye and Poland compete, will also be determined in Baku.
The Defence Industry Executive Committee (SSIK) decided in 2012 to access space independently and gave the task of carrying Turkiye to the space league to Roketsan. The first goal of reaching space in four years was achieved one year early, and in 2017, the first domestic probe rocket launched with national technologies reached an altitude of 126 kilometres. With this achievement, the 100-kilometre line, which is considered the limit of space, was crossed for the first time with a national rocket.
In 2020, an altitude of 136 kilometres was reached in launch tests with new probe rockets. With this milestone, a step was taken towards developing liquid-fuel rocket engines. Turkiye's scientific studies in space began thanks to the payloads carried by the probe rocket.
Roketsan's new goal is to carry out a suborbital flight at an altitude of 300+ kilometres with a new probe rocket with a payload capacity of 100 kilograms, which contains payloads that will contribute to space studies soon. The Şimşek-1 Space Launch System, which will be able to place a satellite weighing 400 kilograms at an altitude of 550 kilometres after the altitude target of 300+ kilometres and uses completely liquid fuel propulsion systems, is aimed to be launched from the Space Launch Centre, which is currently being installed in İğneada. Thus, Turkiye will be able to launch, test and produce satellites and establish bases, which only a few countries in the world have.
In the future, efforts are being made to develop higher capacity space launch vehicles for targets such as Göktürk class satellites and a soft landing on the Moon. Thus, Turkiye will have significant power in many developing fields, such as deep space and space exploration, access to extraterrestrial planets, and space mining.
