[FPSPACE] Turkey and Ikonos

[Dwayne Allen Day]

On Wed, 13 Dec 2000, Dale Gray wrote:

> When I read and then reread the article it seemed that it was saying that
> Turkey was acquiring Ikonos and will be selling its excess capacity through
> Cukurova/INTA.  Can anyone sort this out for me?  Are they acquiring the
> satellite, or is it a typo and they are acquiring satellite images or the
> right to use the satellite?

My memory is hazy on this, but there were a number of articles in Space
News on this subject in the past 5 months or so.  Unfortunately, a search
of their website indicates that they have a lousy search engine and I
can't find any of the relevant articles.  So here it is from hazy memory:

Turkey actually wanted to buy its own satellite and it seemed as if either
Israel or a European company was going to sell it to them.  Ultimately,
they were leaning toward Israel when the deal fell through around
September or so.  I think that they were going to have to reopen
negotiations.

In the meantime, they struck a deal with Ikonos.  I am pretty sure that
this deal is for imagery only.  It might include a ground station in
Turkey itself.

It is NOT for a satellite.  Considering that the US went nutso about
exporting satellite technology, such a deal would be major and would
certainly result in congressional hearings.  So it won't happen easily or
soon.



DDAY