The finals of the 10th Türksat Model Satellite Competition were held this year at the Aksaray Hisar Firing Range. The model satellites, carried skyward by rockets, performed dozens of critical missions while young engineers showcased their competencies in space technologies. In Category-1 “Multi-Spectral Mechanical Filtering,” the Harezmi DGM Team claimed the top spot, while in Category-2 “TICOSAT,” the TAU-SAT Team took first place. Türksat CEO Ahmet Hamdi Atalay stated, “This competition enables our youth to learn satellite and space technologies, increases their interest in putting their engineering knowledge into practice, and serves as a first step for their future careers.”
The final stages of the 10th Türksat Model Satellite Competition, one of Türkiye’s most prestigious student-focused engineering organizations in the field of satellite and space, have been completed. Organized in cooperation with Türksat and the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation), the competition took place at the Hisar Firing Range in Aksaray, located in the Tuz Gölü region. Young engineers fiercely competed to perform dozens of critical missions by carrying their self-designed and manufactured model satellites skyward with rockets.
“A First Step for the Future of Our Youth”
Türksat CEO Ahmet Hamdi Atalay, recalling Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s vision of “The Future is in the Skies” and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s goal of a “Fully Independent Türkiye,” said, “As Türksat, we strive to contribute to our country’s technological independence.” Atalay pointed out that the 10th Model Satellite Competition, organized this year by Türksat, the pioneer of Türkiye’s satellite and space endeavors, is one of the most concrete indicators of this vision, and continued: “This competition, which continues under the Teknofest umbrella, is an R&D project renewed every year, with the participation of dozens of universities and thousands of students from Türkiye and around the world. It increases our youth’s interest in satellite and space technologies and serves as a first step for their future careers.”
“We Are Distributing 2.1 Million Lira in Prizes”
Atalay noted that the competition, which started in 2016 with only three teams and received applications from 429 teams this year, has turned into a global engineering platform: “This year, to mark the 10th anniversary, we added two special categories. The first was the Near Orbit category. In this stage, the electronic payloads produced by our competitors were carried to an altitude of 35 kilometers, into the stratosphere, and encrypted communications were successfully established via the model satellite between ground stations located 50 kilometers apart.” Emphasizing that Türksat will continue to bring young people together with new technologies, Atalay added: “The second special category this year was TICOSAT. Two separate model satellites communicated with each other and with the ground station at an altitude of 2 kilometers. In these competitions, we are distributing a total of 2.1 million lira in prizes. Türksat will continue to increase young people’s interest in technology and the satellite-space field and to support their work in this direction.”
Category 1 Champion: Harezmi DGM
The top spot was also decided in the final of Category-1 “Multi-Spectral Mechanical Filtering” at the Türksat Model Satellite Competition. In the category, held on September 11 with the participation of 15 teams, the Harezmi DGM Team from Düzce University took first place, the Merih Space Team from Bursa Uludağ University came second, and the Turkish Defenders Team from Sakarya University came third. In this category, competitors activated two different mechanical filter disks with commands sent from the ground station to capture multi-spectral images, which were instantly transmitted to the ground station. In addition, they completed a total of 36 additional tasks such as ARAS (Interface Alarm System), SAHA (Inter-System Communication Network), orientation and attitude simulation, operation of eight subsystems, and visualization of data at the ground station. The model satellites, launched to altitudes of 500–700 meters by rockets provided by Türksat, successfully simulated the critical missions performed by a real satellite.
Category-2 TICOSAT Winners Announced
The winners of the Category-2 TICOSAT contest in the final stage of the Türksat Model Satellite Competition, held on September 10 at the Aksaray Hisar Firing Range, were also announced. After evaluations, the TAU-SAT Team from the Turkish-German University ranked first. The AzST-K2 Team, operating under the Azerbaijan National Aviation Academy in Baku, came second. Third place went to the Gaziantep University Electrical R&D Model Satellite Team. The TICOSAT mission, specially designed for the 10th anniversary of Türksat, was carried out with the team satellite concept implemented nationally and internationally for the first time. The contestants successfully applied telemetry transmission and satellite constellation concepts by having their pico satellites, carried to an altitude of 1,500–2,000 meters, communicate with each other and with the ground station in the air, experiencing the closest simulation of a real space project.
Near Orbit Stage Leaders Announced Last Month
The Category-3 Near Orbit Mission, organized for the first time this year, was held on August 10-12 at the Aksaray Hisar Firing Range. Young engineers reached the stratosphere with their model satellites for the first time, opening a new page in Türkiye’s space vision. The three finalist teams – MERGEN, NazarX Team, and AzST-K3 – carried their satellites to altitudes of up to 120,000 feet with high-altitude balloons. During this challenging mission, which lasted about three hours, the satellites successfully transmitted encrypted data packets via two-way communication between two ground stations located 50 kilometers apart. Additionally, critical telemetry data such as position, temperature, pressure, and system status were transmitted instantly. Endurance tests against extreme conditions of minus 55–60 degrees Celsius and low atmospheric pressure were successfully completed. Responding instantly to commands sent from the ground station, the model satellites flawlessly carried out the mission scenarios and then safely landed back on Earth. At the end of this great excitement, the MERGEN Team took first place, the AzST-K3 Team came second, and the NazarX Team placed third.
In the Türksat Model Satellite Competition, the first-place teams in each category will receive 250,000 Turkish Lira in prizes. The second-place teams will be awarded 200,000 Turkish Lira, and the third-place teams will receive 150,000 Turkish Lira. Young engineers will be presented with their awards by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during Teknofest, to be held in Istanbul on September 17-21.