Turkey is obliged to protect its interests in space as well as in the land, sea and air, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Turkey should uphold its interests in outer space in the same way as it does on land, sea and air, Erdoğan said while speaking at the ceremony of launching the Türksat 5B telecommunication satellite in Ankara.

He recalled that Türksat 5B was launched on 19 December, 2021 and said that the country does not intend to stop there. According to him, the Turkish-developed İMECE Earth sensing satellite will be launched in January 2023 and the Türksat 6A telecommunications satellite will be launched in the middle of next year.  "In the near future, the number of operational Turkish satellites in Earth orbit will reach ten," Erdoğan said.

The Türksat 5B telecommunications satellite was successfully launched late last year on a Space X Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It is the satellite with the highest payload in Turkey's history. Türksat 5B will increase Turkey's data transmission capacity by 15 times. Türksat 5B operates in Ku-band from 42 degrees East.

Türksat 5B will cover not only Turkey but also the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, North and East Africa, Nigeria, South Africa and its closest neighbors.

Türksat 5B will be in addition to the existing Türksat 3A and Türksat 4A satellites. Türksat 5B has a lifespan of more than 35 years.

With the commissioning of the new fifth-generation telecommunications satellite Türksat 5B, the number of operational Turkish satellites in orbit has reached eight.