ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled an ambitious 10-year space program for his country on Tuesday, which includes moon missions, sending Turkish astronauts into space and developing internationally viable satellite systems.
Erdogan announced the program, seen as part of his vision to place Turkey in an expanded regional and global role, during an event broadcast live on television with special effects.
He said Turkey plans to establish “a first contact with the moon” in 2023, when the country marks the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republic. The first stage of the mission would be “through international cooperation”, while the second stage would use Turkish rockets, said Erdogan.
“Our main and most important objective for our national space program is the contact of the Republic, in its 100th year, with the moon,” said the Turkish leader. “God willing, let’s go to the moon.”
Erdogan also declared Turkey’s goal to send Turkish citizens into space with international cooperation, to work with other countries to build a spaceport and to create a “global brand” in satellite technology.
“I hope that this roadmap, which will take Turkey to the top flight in the global space race, will come to life successfully,” he said.
Turkey established the Turkish Space Agency, or TUA, in 2018, with the goal of bringing together a handful of other countries with space programs.
Critics questioned the government’s decision to spend large sums of money on that goal at a time when the country’s economy is suffering. But supporters say a space program will provide jobs for researchers and likely reduce the brain drain of emigration scientists.
Erdogan did not provide details on how Turkey plans to achieve its goals. Last month, he and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke by phone and discussed cooperation on space technologies with Turkish companies.
Meanwhile, a metal monolith that mysteriously appeared and disappeared in a field in southeastern Turkey turned out to be a publicity stunt before the event.
The 3-meter-high metal sign (about 10 feet high) with the inscription “Look at the sky, you will see the moon” written in ancient Turkish script was found Friday by a farmer in the province of Sanliurfa. The monolith was located near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gobekli Tepe, which houses megalithic structures dating from the 10th century BC, thousands of years before Stonehenge.
The structure was reported Tuesday morning, adding to the mystery.
An image of the monolith was later projected onto the screen when Erdogan said: “I now present you with Turkey’s 10-year vision, strategy and goals and say, ‘Look at the sky, you will see the moon.’”