Türkiye’s 1st mini satellite collects over 10,000 data items in a year

Grizu-263A satellite, designed by Grizu-263 Space Team, launched into space last year with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket

Türkiye’s first mini satellite Grizu-263A has collected more than 10,00 data items over the past year.

The Grizu-263A satellite, designed by the Grizu-263 Space Team of engineering students of Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University, was launched into space on Jan. 13, 2022 with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

“It stabilized within 13 days after launch. After its stabilization, healthy data was received,” Bulent Ekmekci, the adviser of the Grizu-263 Space Team, told reporters.

He said they achieved their goals about the satellite. “We say that now is the time for new satellites.”

Ekmekci said that the satellite, which rotates in the polar orbit, completes its orbit in nearly one and a half hours.

“This means that it travels around the world 15 or 16 times a day. During these orbits, it moves over different geographical locations in the world. It produces data every 10 seconds. There are over 10,000 confirmed data (items),” he elaborated.

Established in 2016 by the engineering students of Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, the Grizu-263 team aims to work on space and satellite technologies and participate in international competitions.

The team was named after a firedamp explosion that killed 263 miners in Zonguldak’s Kozlu district in 1992. The Turkish word for firedamp is grizu.

The satellite is designed to operate in a low earth orbit of roughly 525 kilometers (326 miles) for four years and eight months.