The equipment on BILSAT-1 satellite was developed by Turkish engineers who worked alongside colleagues in Britain for two years, a coordinator at the Turkish Institute for Electronic Research and Scientific Technologytold AFP.

"For the first time, we didn't just order a satellite but we worked directly on the project and produced its equipment," Ugur Murat Leloglu said.

The next project will be led by an entirely Turkish team in Turkey, he added. The current chassis was manufactured by British company Surrey Satellite Technologies.

Twelve engineers from BILTEN and the Turkish Centre for Scientific Research worked on the project that cost 14 million dollars (12.6 million euros).

The satellite will be launched by a Russian rocket on September 26 from the Plesetsk base in northeastern Russia. It is due to take up orbit around Earth at an altitude of 686 kilometres (425 miles).

Information gathered by the 129-kilo (284-pound) satellite will be used for agricultural purposes, the management of natural catastrophes and urbanisation issues.

Turkey's three previous satellites were made by France's Aerospatiale and launched by the European Ariane rocket.

SPACE.WIRE