Türkiye to launch new satellite by late-2011

Haber Turk - Türkiye plans to launch a new telecommunications satellite by late-2011 or early-2012. Türkiye’s Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said all necessary preparations have been completed and that a tender for the new satellite project will be held in 2009. "The construction works, which will take 23 to 30 months at most, will start once the company is picked" said Yildirim. Yildirim also noted that Turkish engineers are currently working on a joint project to build another satellite. He said the next one will be built mostly by Turkish engineers. "Our goal is to build it by 2015" he added.