Türkiye joined the framework shaping cooperation on the Moon and in deep space as the 71st signatory to the Artemis Accords on August 31, 2026. The accords provide Türkiye with an institutional basis for interoperability principles, joint operations and future space governance.
At the signing ceremony, NASA invited the countries party to the accords to contribute hardware and scientific payloads to the permanent infrastructure planned for the lunar surface. However, turning this invitation into concrete missions will depend on programmatic and commercial arrangements covering issues such as contract details, technology transfer and the division of responsibilities.
Changing benchmarks in space diplomacy
Elif Yüksel, an expert in international space policy and space diplomacy, says success in space diplomacy is measured by more than the capacity to reach orbit. The key benchmark is increasingly the ability to translate that access into scientific, economic, industrial and diplomatic outcomes.
Security, the space economy, the governance of space as a shared asset and exploration programs were addressed within the same framework at the International Space Summit held in Paris on September 9–10. In the framework published by France, the summit’s themes, attended by around 120 foreign delegations, were treated not as separate issues but as parts of the same system.
This approach highlights the view that strategic autonomy and international cooperation are not alternatives to each other. The cancellations of SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space and Starcloud before the summit also brought the competition and governance dimensions of space cooperation to the fore.
Türkiye’s space capacity
Türkiye’s experience in space dates back to TÜRKSAT 1B, launched in 1994. BİLSAT’s work in 2003, followed by Earth-observation satellite activities with RASAT in 2011 and GÖKTÜRK-2 in 2012, formed the foundation of the country’s current capacity.
The establishment of the Turkish Space Agency in 2018, followed by the announcement of the National Space Program and the National Space Strategy Document, strengthened the treatment of space as an area of state policy. Türkiye currently operates nine active public satellites.
With TÜRKSAT 6A, Türkiye joined the 11 countries able to design and manufacture communications satellites. Through İMECE, it placed into orbit a sub-meter-resolution Earth-observation satellite equipped with domestic optics. ASELSAN’s LUNA-1 and LUNA-2 satellites represent efforts to develop space-based Internet of Things capabilities.
The Space Command established within the Turkish Air Force in 2024 aims to strengthen civilian-military coordination and alignment with NATO’s space frameworks. The expanding satellite fleets of Fergani Space and Plan-S demonstrate the growing weight of the private sector and entrepreneurial companies in the ecosystem.
In propulsion, DeltaV’s hybrid rocket system reached an altitude of more than 200 kilometers in June 2025. The Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard, sent into orbit in July 2026, began testing in the space environment as part of the goal of developing a Regional Positioning and Timing System.
The planned spaceport in Somalia is linked to Türkiye’s goal of independent access to space. The election of Turkish Space Agency President Yusuf Kıraç as chair of the Council of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization is also among the developments giving this experience institutional visibility.
The first planned phase of the Turkish Lunar Mission aims to carry out a hard landing on the Moon in the first months of 2027. This goal demonstrates the potential for participation in the Artemis Accords to carry technical capacity directly into an international cooperation framework.
Key issues after the signing
Participation in the Artemis Accords will increase Türkiye’s visibility in space, but it does not by itself amount to international influence. For that influence to become lasting, scientific contributions, industrial integration, regulatory alignment, human resources, economic and social outcomes, and governance efforts must advance together.
Türkiye has flight-validated systems in terms of technical contributions. The TstarG-100 platform used in TÜRKSAT 6A entered service in April 2025. The formation-flying satellite architecture covering İMECE-2 and İMECE-3 is also being built on this experience.
Facilities for star trackers, reaction wheels and electro-optical camera systems, as well as a facility for Hall-effect propulsion engines, have also been put into operation. The SSS-2B 3U CubeSat, developed in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, is regarded as one example showing that domestic engineering can operate to international standards from design through integration.
Türkiye is also continuing efforts to integrate foreign scientific instruments into its own missions. The Lunar Neutrals Telescope, developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, is planned to fly on a lunar mission.
In terms of industrial integration, the benchmarks will be the entry of Turkish companies into international supply chains, the participation of universities in joint programs and the deployment of domestic technologies at mission level. Clarifying licensing and data-sharing procedures will also be important for making industrial participation permanent.
In governance, participation in the Artemis framework needs to proceed alongside the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and national policymaking. Interinstitutional and interdisciplinary coordination will be decisive in turning technical and scientific gains into sustainable diplomatic influence.
Seeking coordination for space diplomacy
The proposed task-force model for space diplomacy envisions training experts who can connect space sciences, technologies, engineering and economics with law, security and international relations. If established, this model could be integrated into a coordination mechanism similar to a National Space Council.
Within this framework, investment in areas of expertise able to address civilian, military and commercial space activities together is recommended. Experts able to serve as space attachés and undersecretaries are intended to carry technical capacity into international negotiation and governance processes.
The Antalya Declaration is planned to be issued at a meeting attended by parliamentarians and government representatives ahead of the 2026 International Astronautical Congress. The declaration, intended to carry messages of peace, security and stability, is emerging as a platform where Türkiye is preparing to propose new mechanisms beyond existing governance frameworks.
For Türkiye, the success of the Artemis Accords will be measured by the concrete outcomes the signing produces in scientific, industrial, social, economic, security and diplomatic fields.
