ANKARA

Türkiye is preparing to establish its own launch facility by building a spaceport in Somalia to strengthen its independence in the space industry and to become an alternative gateway to space.

Türkiye’s National Space Program’s independent access to space strategy gave a green signal to the construction of a spaceport in Somalia.

Umut Yildiz, an astrophysicist, told Anadolu that the project offers the country many opportunities.

The spaceport project was announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and later, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Fatih Kacir provided details on the project.

Yildiz stated that it is key to choose a location close to the equator to launch rockets, noting that the European Space Agency (ESA) uses French Guiana as its launch site.

“This is because the Earth’s rotational speed is highest at the equator, so rockets sort of receive additional thrust when launched, and need less fuel to transport large rockets into orbit,” he said. “Somalia is a great location for fuel efficiency.”

“Rockets are launched towards the sea or the ocean to reduce risks — there’s Ukraine and Russia towards the Black Sea to the north of Türkiye, and to the south, there is the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus and Israel, so regular launches could lead to risks for these countries,” he noted. “Although there is some concern for Somalia’s security, we can assume security will be provided there as there is already a Turkish military base in the country.”

Türkiye chose Somalia for its spaceport due to multiple reasons, one of which is its weather conditions, allowing launches all 12 months of a year, as well as low air and sea traffic density.

The project will enable Türkiye to become one of the countries with an independent satellite launch infrastructure, with the coordination of the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and contributions from institutions, especially the Turkish Space Agency (TUA).

Türkiye will also develop homegrown space vehicles to ensure sovereignty in critical space technologies.

Infrastructure, subsystems, and equipment for space technologies will be produced domestically, while the planned launch center will be opened for commercial use in the next phase of the project. This facility will serve the private sector as well and hence become a significant source of revenue.

Homegrown satellites will be launched initially into the low Earth orbit and the geosynchronous Earth orbit, and in the future, the facility will meet the needs of international customers, while contributing to Somalia’s development.

The spaceport will be a part of a sustainable and competitive domestic industrial ecosystem for Türkiye, while eliminating external dependency in critical areas like rocket engines, fuel technologies, propulsion systems, high-technology materials, avionics, and ground support infrastructure.