Türksat 5B

Türksat 5B is a Turkish geostationary high-throughput (HTS) communications satellite of Türksat A.Ş. developed for military and commercial purposes.

Development

The Türksat 5B project started in September 2011. The final production contract for the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) was planned for 2015. After a delay, the contract was realized in October 2017 when Airbus Defence and Space was selected to join the project with the requirement that 25% of the satellite be built in Turkey in order to stimulate the technological sector of the Turkish economy.

In November 2020, it was announced that satellite level tests for Türksat 5B have begun.

Launch

The satellite was launched with a Falcon 9 launch vehicle of SpaceX at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 19 December 2021 at 03:58:39 UTC. The first-stage booster used on this mission was B1067, making its third flight; the first stage was successfully recovered on A Shortfall of Gravitas.

Spacecraft

Türksat 5B is a communications satellite to serve on a geostationary orbit at 42° East longitude. It was built on a Eurostar-3000EOR satellite bus manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. It has a mass of 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) and an expected design lifetime of 15 years, maneuver lifetime of more than 35 years. Powered by two deployable solar panels and batteries at 15 kW, the 50 Gbps high-throughput satellite consists of Ku-band, Ka-band and X-band transponders.

The 3 military X-band transponders have global coverage and were developed by Aselsan for use by the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB/SSM).