The First Turkish Lunar Mission: Developing a High-Resolution Observatory of Lunar Water-Cycle Processes
Day: Wednesday 7 October
Time: 15:45 - 16:30
Location: D3 - NEST Congress and Exhibition Centre
The international community has entered a new lunar era defined by sustainable resource utilization. At the center of this effort are the processes governing the lunar water cycle, which the First Turkish Lunar Mission (TLM-1), targeted for launch in the first half of 2027, is uniquely positioned to investigate. By combining indigenous spacecraft technologies with high-resolution energetic neutral atom observations, thermal and surface characterization, optical imaging, and measurements of lunar radiation environment, TLM-1 will provide a new, integrated view of the interactions among the solar wind, lunar surface, magnetic anomalies, and thermal environment. Through its indigenous technologies and international partnerships, Türkiye aims to contribute new scientific knowledge and capabilities to the global lunar exploration community.
This lecture explores how the First Turkish Lunar Mission contributes to the global Lunar exploration efforts through three core pillars:
Engineering the Indigenous Deep Space Platform: Developed by TÜBİTAK UZAY, the TstarD platform forms the core of the TLM-1 spacecraft with more than 80% domestic content, marking Türkiye’s transition to deep-space operations. The lecture details the engineering of this high-performance spacecraft, integrating indigenous technologies including the hybrid propulsion, vision-based navigation (VBN), onboard data handling, communications, power, thermal control, and attitude and orbit control systems. The spacecraft also carries domestically developed scientific and imaging payloads including a radiation calorimeter, radiation dosimeters, and video cameras. It serves as a case study for rising space nations on balancing satellite heritage with cutting-edge indigenous innovation to execute a 400,000 km journey to the Moon.
Dynamic Mapping of Water-Cycle Processes via LNT: The scientific centerpiece of TLM-1 is the Lunar Neutrals Telescope (LNT), developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). Offering unprecedented spatial resolution and sensitivity, LNT will capture high-resolution energetic neutral atom (ENA) images of the Moon to advance our understanding of Moon–solar wind interactions. By detecting ENAs, TLM-1 will provide a high-resolution dynamic view of key processes influencing the lunar water cycle—investigating how solar-wind interaction contributes to water precursors, how this interaction varies across the lunar surface and magnetic anomalies, and how these processes relate to the environments in which volatiles can migrate and eventually become trapped in Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs).
Thermal and Surface Characterization via LNR: Complementing LNT is the Lunar Narrow Field-of-View Radiometer (LNR) developed by Shenzhen University, China to characterize the thermal and radiative properties of the lunar surface at high spatial resolution. Precise knowledge of extreme temperature gradients is essential for interpreting volatile mobility and cold-trapping conditions, as well as for ensuring the survival of future lunar assets. Together, LNT and LNR will enable solar wind-surface interactions to be investigated alongside the thermal conditions that influence volatile retention, redistribution, and cold trapping.
The Turkish Lunar Mission is more than a national milestone; it represents a significant contribution to global lunar science and exploration. Integrating the LNR, LNT, indigenous radiation instruments, and optical cameras, TLM-1 will serve as a comprehensive environmental laboratory for investigating the physical processes governing the lunar water cycle. This lecture will provide the IAF community with new insights relevant to future In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) while highlighting Türkiye’s emergence as a Lunar nation.
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