The Turkish Space Agency (, TUA) is a government agency for national aerospace research as a part of the space program of Turkey. It was formally established by a presidential decree on 13 December 2018.
Headquartered in Ankara, the agency is subordinated to the Ministry of Industry and Technology. With the establishment of TUA, the Department for Aviation and Space Technologies at the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure was abolished. TUA prepares strategic plans that include medium and long-term goals, basic principles and approaches, objectives and priorities, performance measures, methods to be followed and resource allocation for aerospace science and technologies.
TUA works in close collaboration with the TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY). It is administrated by an executive board of seven members. The tenure of board members, the chairperson excluded, is three years.
National Space Program
Preliminary ten objectives:
In 2023 (the centennial of the Republic) Turkey will perform a hard landing on the Moon. A new company will be established for satellite production. Work and strive for regional superiority. A spaceport will be established in the country. And possibly one in Somalia. Competence in space will be increased by researching space weather and meteorology. Meteorites, planets and more in space will be tracked from Earth. The space industry will conduct integrated studies. A space technologies development zone will be established. Undergraduate and graduate education focus on space and aviation. A Turkish citizen astronaut will be sent to space.
The last objective is planned for the second half of 2023 by sending a Turkish citizen to the International Space Station (ISS) within the scope of the Turkish Space Traveler and Science Mission project.
Duties
The agency's duties and areas of authority are: