Key facts
- Turkey signed the US-led Artemis Accords, the report said, without giving a date for the signing.
- A team of more than 120 students and professors at Middle East Technical University built prototypes of two AI-powered rovers.
- The rovers are intended for Chang'e-8, a Chinese mission the report described as originally planned for 2028.
- The report said Turkey is not part of the International Lunar Research Station, the base China plans to build.
Turkey signed the Artemis Accords, the US-led set of principles for lunar activity, while its first attempt to reach the lunar south pole is likely to travel on a Chinese mission, according to a report that did not date the signing.
The report said a team of more than 120 students and professors at Middle East Technical University in Ankara built prototypes of two AI-powered rovers intended for Chang'e-8, a Chinese mission the report described as originally planned for 2028. The lunar south pole, where water ice is sought, is the region both Washington and Beijing are working to reach.
The report said Turkey is not part of the International Lunar Research Station, the base China plans to build, and its text ended there. It named no Turkish or Chinese official and gave no figure for the cost or scale of the rover program.