Göktürk-2

Equipped with state of the art advanced technology developed by Turkey and a series of new enhancements to provide improved high resolution imagery, it was placed at 16:26 UTC into a low Earth orbit of 686 km (426 mi).

Göktürk-2 later put its solar panels into service, and began the week after the launch to send data and its first images, which were from the US, Brazil, India as well as Turkey's western city of Izmir.

[2][3][7][8] Rahmi Güçlü of Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, an engineer appointed by the Government of Turkey to audit and report on the Göktürk-2 program, has claimed that the imagery obtained from space by Göktürk-2 satellite can be used to identify even individuals, due to the state-of-the-art software filters they have developed and that the Turkish Government has already begun using the technology for obtaining intelligence on the military operations of several countries in the region.

[11] SpaceTech GmbH Immenstaad has supplied the solar generator system, which consists of the following:[12] Israel had repeatedly voiced its objection to the launch of the Göktürk family of satellites by Turkey, stating that it would be used to obtain high resolution imagery of Israel, which could eventually fall into the wrong hands.

[13][14][15][16][17] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Israeli objections, stating that Turkey is a sovereign nation and as such it would not allow any Israeli interference with Turkey's decision to design, develop, manufacture and launch high resolution intelligence satellites.