Zeynep Duyar
05 October 2026•Update: 05 October 2026
Turkish defense firm Aselsan unveiled its new low Earth orbit communications satellite constellation on Monday at the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026), held in the southwestern province of Antalya.
The Gokbagi (Astralink) dual-use satellite network provides efficient and quick communications services for military, public and civilian sectors.
Aselsan CEO Ahmet Akyol told Anadolu that the firm plans to begin launching the first satellites of the constellation within the next few years.
“At the congress, we’re displaying our Gokbagi project for the first time, which we designed from the chip level up,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of IAC 2026, co-hosted by the Turkish Space Agency (TUA) and the SAHA Istanbul defense cluster and organized by the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry. Anadolu serves as its global communications partner.
“We use the name ‘Astralink’ globally, but it continues to be called Gokbagi in Türkiye,” he said.
The project is expected to mark a new milestone in Türkiye’s efforts to secure its space technology independence.
“We’ve also developed satellite receivers based on active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology for ground services, allowing us to digitally track satellites without adjusting antennas for more effective and efficient communication, made possible through our long-standing expertise in design technology, starting from the chip up,” he said.
Aselsan is also displaying its Gokturk-3 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, which is able to capture high-resolution images of the terrestrial surface through dense cloud cover.
Akyol stated that the firm also invested in new space manufacturing infrastructure at its newly constructed campus.
“Today, we’re talking about artificial intelligence (AI) in space, entering a new era where all these surveillance, communications and navigation systems are built and processed in orbit and transmitted back to Earth — we came to this event from TEKNOFEST, where thousands of young enthusiasts competed in satellite competitions, and the fact that the topics they competed on at the event come to life here is a source of value for our country, as we take pride in building and launching our systems,” he added.
