Facility Establishment Project for Electric Propulsion Applications Research and Hall Thruster Development (HALE)
Through HALE (Facility Establishment Project for Electric Propulsion Applications Research and Hall Thruster Development) Turkey will establish its first facility for research and development of electric thruster technologies. This project will build necessary knowledge base and facilities to design, manufacture, and test Hall effect thrusters. This facility will be established at TÜBİTAK UZAY with the support of the State Planning Organization (DPT). The thrusters, that will be developed and tested by this laboratory, will make it possible to design complicated space projects like lunar or interplanetary missions. And the infrastructure will be available for the development of new projects
Electric propulsion is relatively new to the space community as a reliable thrust generation technique and therefore will induce a more competitive space industry in Turkey. The project will increase the level of knowledge in space technology, in particular in the area of propulsion systems. The facility, that will be established during the project, will be available for all researchers, who want to work in this area.
HALE is going to develop a facility, which has strategic, technological and commercial importance at the international level. This will increase the number of infrastructures developed using national resources and the capacity it creates is going to minimize the dependence to other countries. It will also add the electric propulsion technology among the science and technology areas, where researchers can be productive using national resources only. HALE is going to be an important step for the national “Moon Project”.
HALE is going to start in June 2010 and will last until 2015.
First satellite designed and built in Turkey: RASAT
RASAT is the second remote-sensing satellite after the launch of Turkey’s first remote sensing satellite BİLSAT of TÜBİTAK UZAY. RASAT, having a high-resolution optical imaging system and new modules developed by Turkish engineers, is the first Earth-observation satellite designed and manufactured in Turkey.
GOALS
To improve know-how from design phase to in-orbit commissioning phase of a satellite project gained from BiLSAT Project,
- To develop space qualified systems using current technologies and gaining flight heritage by succeeding in operating these systems in space,
- To meet the requirements of Turkey in the sense of remote sensing as much as possible,
- To investigate the current capabilities of Turkey for space technologies and to use as much as possible,
- To increase number of qualified man power in the field of satellite technologies,
- To meet the requirements of Turkish space industry through development of critical modules,
- To prove the space-based capabilities of TÜBİTAK UZAY to Turkey and the World.
| RASAT IMAGE APPLICATIONS | |||
 |
Mapping |  |
Disaster Monitoring |
 |
Environment |  |
Urban and regional planning |
| TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Turkish EO Satellite | RASAT |
| Weight | 93 kg |
| Orbit | 689 km circular, sun synchronous |
| Attitude control | 3 axis stabilised |
| Orbital cycle | 98.8 min |
| Local equator crossing time | 10:30 |
| Spatial resolution | Panchromatic: 7.5 m Multispectral: 15 m |
| Expected life time | 3 years |
| Spectral resolution (μm) | 0.42 – 0.73 (Panchromatic) Band 1: 0.42 – 0.55 (Blue) Band2 : 0.55 – 0.58 (Green) Band3: 0.58 – 0.73 (Red) |
| Radiometric resolution | 8 bit |
| Temporal resolution | 4 gün |
| Swath width | 30 km |
| Payloads | BiLGE: Flight computer with the capability to utilize Spacewire. GEZGiN-2: New generation image processor capable of high-speed multi-spectral image. compression using the JPEG2000 algorithms with encryption capabilities X-Band Transmitter Module: Communication system with 100 Mb/s downlink at 7W output. |
BiLSAT Project
The aim of BiLSAT project was to initiate, develop and support small satellite technologies in Turkey.
In cooperation with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), the infrastructure for design and manufacturing of small satellites and a ground station were established, and BiLSAT, Turkey's first remote sensing satellite, was manufactured and launched. Also, a Turkish engineering team has worked in cooperation with SSTL engineers in design, manufacturing, test and launch phases of BiLSAT.
Two payloads of the satellite, GEZGIN and COBAN, were designed and manufactured by TÜBİTAK UZAY staff in Turkey and integrated into BiLSAT.
Launch: September 27th, 2003
GEZGIN (Real Time Image Processor)
A satellite sub-system capable of real time multi-band image compression in compliance with JPEG 2000 standard.
ÇOBAN (Multi Band Camera)
An eight-band multispectral camera with a ground sampling distance of 120 m.
PURPOSE
To produce a camera system that operates in multi-spectral region being a payload for BİLSAT-1 satellite which was designed by Turkish engineers.