ANKARA, Dec 18, (Asia Free Press): The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has thanked Elon Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX, for helping with the launch of Turk-sat 5A, a Turkish communications satellite, according to Turk media.
The Turkish Presidency has released the video of a conversation between the two dignitaries, during which they have discussed several issues ranging from the digital economy, Turkey’s National Space Program, and the country’s first domestic electric car – TOGG.
Erdogan said the Turk-sat 5B satellite would be launched into space on Sunday via SpaceX and thanked Musk for helping Turkey with the January launch of the 5A satellite.
“We will gift you with a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of satellite art created by 5,000 of our children,” Erdogan further added while thanking Elon Musk for his great contribution to Turkey.
In his turn, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world for 2021, expressed gratitude for the gift, saying that he looks forward to “launching the satellite and doing many things with Turkey in the future.”
In January 2021, Turkey had launched its Turk-sat 5A satellite from a SpaceX base in the US, as it aims to provide TV broadcasting and communication services across three continents. In 2017, Turkey signed an agreement with Airbus to produce the Turk-sat 5A, 5B and Turk-sat 6A orbiters.