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INTA SPACETURK A SYNOPSIS OF PAST AND FUTURE

When first founded in year 2001 many wondered how a company determined to operate

Date: Issue 6 - June 2007

When first founded in year 2001 many wondered how a company determined to operate in the specific field of satellite imaging would ever survive by operating out of Turkey. In order to operate Ikonos, world’s first commercial 1m resolution direct taskable imaging satellite, heavy investment had to be made on the regional ground station and trained personnel also heavy fees had to be paid for the satellite time and maintenance of the system. Difficult times were in front of the company.

In steering of a young and talented management team and picked out of the Turkish defence industry and with a dedicated proactive group of youthful personnel, a major challenge was shouldered. The glittering idea of space business had illusively concealed the underlying difficulties of creating a market from ground and establishing the notion of satellite imagery usage. Much revenue had to be realized where little or no imagery market was available. The market had to be created not only in Turkey but in the surrounding region. Most of the potential customers had no concept of using satellite imagery or even what satellite imagery was. Moreover, many subtleties of operating an imaging satellite had to be discovered and acute expertise had to be gained.