First Russian private satellite sends signal from orbit

The first Russian private satellite DX1, which was launched with a Soyuz rocket on Tuesday, sent a radio signal and telemetric information according to schedule, the satellite maker company Dauria Aerospace told Russia's (Itar-Tass) News Agency on Wednesday.
The Soyuz 2.1b rocket with the upper stage Fregat was successfully launched on Tuesday at 19:58 Moscow time.
Three hours after the liftoff, DX1 entered the zone of visibility of the Dauria Aerospace mission control centre based in the Skolkovo techno park. Specialists received and read several packages of data from the satellite and sent first commands, the company's press service said.
After all the checks, DX1 began commercial activities monitoring of shipping in oceans and rivers with the use of data from transmitters of the automatic identification system. It is the first satellite with such a function in Russia.
Shipping monitoring is of interest to state services and commercial users. The company has already signed an agreement on cooperation with the federal satellite communication operator Morsvyazsputnik of the Russian Transport Ministry.