Turkey completes its first lunar spacecraft, to launch in 2027 with over 80% home-built technology

Turkey has completed building the spacecraft for its first lunar mission and assembling all its parts. The country plans to send the craft towards the Moon in 2027. Many countries are currently racing to develop the technology, and Turkey has taken a step forward in that direction.

The mission has been prepared under Turkey's national space programme and is named Turkish Lunar Mission 1 (TLM-1). Production, assembly and integration of the spacecraft were completed in October 2026. Key pre-launch checks and tests have now begun.

According to the plan, the spacecraft will be launched between April and June 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will operate in a polar orbit about 100 km above the Moon's surface. Reaching there is expected to take roughly two months.

The mission's biggest feature is its use of home-grown technology. Of the spacecraft's 65 key components, 56 have been made in Turkey, which means more than 80 per cent of the technology is domestic.

The spacecraft carries an advanced hybrid propulsion system built by the Turkish company DeltaV. It also carries special scientific instruments to study radiation in space, temperatures on the lunar surface and the Moon's magnetic field.

The mission aims to do more than orbit the Moon. Another key goal is to make the country's research institutions, private companies and new technology start-ups capable of space research. The government is stressing the need to reduce dependence on foreign technology and build its own capacity to make rockets and spacecraft.

Through the mission, Turkey wants to become self-reliant in space technology and also secure a place in global space research. After the first mission, a second phase is planned to land a craft on the Moon and send a rover. Experience from the first mission will be used in later missions. If it succeeds, Turkey could join the small list of countries with lunar missions.