Turkish Lunar Spacecraft

The Turkish Lunar Spacecraft is TÜBİTAK UZAY’s first spacecraft for lunar-orbit exploration, built on the TstarD-100 platform. Manufacturing, assembly and integration were reported complete on September 14, 2026, before transfer to Turkish Aerospace’s USET centre for environmental testing. The institute describes approximately 3.5 tonnes launch mass and a target launch in the first half of 2027. The science payload includes two domestic radiation instruments, a lunar neutral-particle telescope from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, and a narrow-field radiometer from Shenzhen University. The spacecraft is intended to enter a roughly 100 km polar lunar orbit for science, followed by controlled deorbit and a hard landing. Launch, lunar arrival and the terminal phase remain planned.