Since I gave an incorrect information above, I need to make a correction. The head of TUA, Serdar Yıldırım, made some statements to the BBC. (I felt it necessary to provide this information because I see that the members of the exact one country spamming and trolling several issiues related to TR within systematic and coordinated manner. I still believe that besides arrogant people who will cover up even their mistakes, here has also responsible people who really see the manipulation efforts in the forum.)
"Milli Uzay Programı" kapsamında Türkiye 2023'te Ay'a ulaÅmayı hedefliyor. Peki 3 yıldan az bir süre içinde Ay'a ilk yerli uzay aracının gönderilmesi için Türkiye'de yeterli altyapı ve insan kaynaÄı var mı? Türkiye Uzay Ajansı BaÅkanı Serdar Hüseyin Yıldırım, projenin...
www.bbc.com
Among the 10 goals in the 10-year program; There are also hard landing on the Moon in 2023 with a locally produced engine and spacecraft, soft landing in 2028, the first Turkish citizen to be sent to space, and the establishment of a spaceport operation.
Q: Is there sufficient infrastructure, preparatory work and human resources to launch the first domestic spacecraft to the Moon orbit in less than 3 years?
"2023 is a very aggressive deadline for a Lunar mission. But the mission if well analyzed, in the first place, our goal is to reach only the moon and hard landing. A spacecraft that we will manufacture in Turkey with a hybrid powertrain produced in Turkey, we want to reach the moon. If we were starting from scratch, we could not be able to catch 2023. If everything goes well, we think that our current works will reach the target by the end of 2023. We have to set a goal. Planning is very close to reality, but of course it involves risks. It's a first-time job for TR. Technically, we may encounter unexpected problems, there may be disruptions in the supply chain or sub-project areas. These are always within the rules of the game. In such a case, of course, there may be delays."
The first step in the Moon mission, which is aimed for the end of 2023, is the production of the domestic engine.
Step one: Domestic engine
Static ignition and launch tests of the hybrid engine produced in partnership with ROKETSAN, TÜBİTAK and DeltaV companies were performed. However, this engine needs to be developed and modified according to the spacecraft to be built. This process has a schedule approximately 1 year.
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Right now, we have the engine. This engine will only be designed and modified according to this vehicle to reach the moon. It consists of that. This is a job that will take a year. So we do not see a problem in that schedule."
"The engine and spacecraft studies will run in parallel. We will not wait for the engine to finish for the spacecraft to work. These studies will not wait for each other. Currently, some controls are made at the point where a working engine is connected to a spacecraft and additional units are connected and developed."
"The owner and developer of this hybrid rocket is DeltaV."
Second step: Spacecraft
-Space vehicle for first contact mission is at detailed design stage for about 6 months. However, it has not started production yet. The country's design experience in spacecrafts still limited with satellites.-
-Military reconnaissance satellite named Göktürk-2 which previously produced with local contributions, was launched on December 18, 2012. Before that Turkey's first earth observation satellite RASAT which designed and manufactured by TUBITAK was launched in 2011.-
-Currently, the construction of İMECE and TÜRKSAT 6A satellites continues which have a localization rate of over 60 percent.
On October 2, 2020, TÜBİTAK announced that "The production of the Flight Model of TÜRKSAT 6A, the first national and domestic communication satellite of our country, has been started". The satellite construction started in 2014, and planned to be launch into space by 2022. The final assembly of the high resolution ground observation satellite İMECE was completed in June 2020. It is slated for 2022 for its launch.-
Q: When these time intervals are calculated, how realistic is it for the spacecraft, which is still in the design phase, to be ready to be sent to the Moon in 2023?
"We do not have a problem in designing and manufacturing our vehicle that will go to the moon. The most risky part is the design process we are currently in. Design work has been done for about 6 months.
"This vehicle, which will reach the Moon in the first stage, will not be a very sophisticated, very advanced vehicle. This journey will take 3 days. Since we will make hard landing, there will be no return again, no re-lift, so the features such as radiation resistance of this vehicle do not need to be very robust. We already have the ability to do this. "
"We have nearly three years now, a difficult and risky time, I accept that. If we evaluate our experience in satellite production correctly and do not encounter unexpected problems, I foresee that we will be able to catch target."
"Over 90 percent of the spacecraft design will be domestic. Production also will be held by TUBİTAK-Space in Turkey."
"We can buy some parts from abroad, also thish could be some parts actually we can product, for save time. There are also systems that we do not have technologically yet, this is a fact. But we already bought some of these from outside for previously built satellites."
Third step: Launch
-Turkey has not spacecraft launch capacity yet. Previously, cooperation was made with China, Russia, the USA, the European Space Agency and private companies such as SpaceX, for launching satellites.-
"A similar agreement will be signed for the first Lunar mission in 2023: In the first place, we need co-operation on launch to get our spacecraft into close orbit. Because we do not have this capacity yet. What we want is to take it to close orbit. Then we will ignite our rocket engines and go to the moon ourselves."
“We are meeting with many companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Boeing. Our door is open to everyone, but SpaceX is far ahead in terms of launch capability. They have lowered the costs very much, providing a great advantage. They are also interest to Turkey, I'm meeting almost weekly with SpaceX. Obviously the Falcon 9 rocket is one of the strongest candidates. But right now we are not bound by a contract. "
"The launch phase for the first lunar mission will constitute the highest budget item within the mission because it will be an outsourced service entirely."
Q: What is the budget for the lunar mission and how will it be covered?
"When I say something, the subject is often distorted. So I do not find it appropriate to give you numbers on this subject. But we predict that our mission will cost less compared to equivalent missions."
-The cost of the engine or the production of spacecraft has not been made public to date. Space'x, one of the companies that provides the lowest cost for launch, is valuing $ 62 million for each launch with the Falcon 9 rocket. However, SpaceX officials say that this cost could be reduced to $ 30 million in the near future if the rockets were reused.-
"For the 2028 soft landing goal, even now, offers have started to come from some countries. Not the first league, the countries that want to exist in space and developing countries like us are interested. We can also develop international cooperation for the 2028 mission. However, if cooperation not happen, Turkey still have enough strength because of the costs will to 8 years."
"The amount allocated by the state treasury to TUA from its own budget is 38 million TL. But this is not our project budget. We have a system of getting a separate budget for each such project. Budget for the Lunar target will be given separately. Also we receiving contribution margin from many institutions in Turkey as well. With these shares, only the administrative figures are over 40 million dollars."
Q: So what Turkey will gain in return for these costs?
With this mission which could be reach billions of US dollars, Turkey will be one of about 20 countries engaged in space activities.
"Going to the moon is a bit of a symbolic goal. We do not have a goal to find something new that other countries cannot discover. The moon has also been mapped, many things are known. We care about this to develop our own space activities, technology transfer, integration and experience. "
"For every dollar spent on space studies, it is calculated that about 2-3 times will be return in a certain term. It may not be possible to make a return immediately. I am one of those people who believe that investments in this area will return exponentially in the medium term."
Yildirim says that the most concrete return will be "partnership to production platforms to be created in close orbit" and "asteroid missions":
"For this, we are in contact with companies from around the world. Production platforms will be established in close orbit in the near future. As TUA, we would like to be a partner of one of them." "This could be an exciting new target. Of course, after the first 10-year goals…"
Q: The hard landing spacecrafts that NASA and Russia sent to the Moon before had taken thousands of photos from the Moon until crash. Does TUA's vehicle will have this feature?
Of course, we will have useful loads in it. We aim to collect information and transfer to Turkey during both mission and hard landing.
(The rest of the interview includes explanations regarding other targets. Issues such as which countries have signed bilateral agreements with TR, Turkish astronaut target and ISS, or where the spaceport will be built...)
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