Turkey seeks to develop spaceport in Somalia
ANKARA, Turkey – The Republic of Turkey is in talks with three countries to develop a spaceport in Somalia and a rocket to perform moon landings, the space agency chief said, as Ankara continues to explore opportunities in the country of the Horn of Africa.
For nearly a decade Turkey has proven to be a reliable development friend of Somalia, but its forays have often met criticism from a number of elites, including the main opposition leaders in Somalia. .
Serdar Huseyin Yildirim, head of the Turkish Space Agency, made his comments to the Sputnik news agency on the sidelines of the World Space Exploration Conference, which was held in St. Petersburg from June 14 to 18, 2021 , official media reported.
The leader of the space agency, however, did not mention the other countries Turkey is currently engaging in as part of the long-term project to explore space. Turkey is one of the countries competing to show prowess in terms of technology.
“We could work with Russia in many areas, on the spaceport, on rocket engines,” he said. “We discussed the possibility of Russia providing assistance in the construction of our spaceport. They have a lot of experience in this area, both in the launch pads and in the spaceports themselves.”
Reports indicate that Turkey has set aside nearly $ 1 billion for the construction of the spaceport in Somalia as part of its space exploration process. It will be one of the country’s biggest investments by Turkey in the country.
According to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, this aims to make a “hard” landing on the moon in 2023, the centenary of the founding of modern Turkey. The Turkish leader has worked closely with Mogadishu since his first trip to the country in 2011.
This mission would allow Turkish scientists to gain experience for a soft landing in 2028 followed by the performance of scientific experiments and the deployment of an exploration vehicle.
According to Yildirim, Turkey had held talks with the Ground-based Space Infrastructure Operations Center, a subsidiary of Russian space agency Roscosmos, and more detailed planning could begin next year, once the location of the port. spatial finalized.
Turkey launched its space agency in December 2018. In 2020, it announced the testing of a rocket developed by defense contractor Roketsan. It also plans to send a Turkish astronaut to the International Space Station and launch satellites to set up its own global positioning system.
In an interview with Sputnik last year, Yildirim said the country’s space agency is working on nearly 30 separate projects and has held talks with around 20 countries on space cooperation, including Ukraine, the Kazakhstan, Russia, Japan, China, Pakistan, India. , and Azerbaijan.
Ankara has been a major financial and security partner of Somalia in recent years and the envisaged project will further strengthen the relationship. The European nation is responsible for training and equipping the Somali National Army GorGor troops and Haramcad police officers.
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