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The satellite was launched on 14 July by a SpaceX Falcon rocket from a US military base in the Marshall Islands. First images from the on board sensor were received on 20 July by Astronautic Technology SB, the prime contractor for the spacecraft.

The minister said that about 200 images of peninsula Malaysia have been received by the end of 2009, and the sensor appears to perform well.

Razaksat is an unusual remote sensing satellite because it is equatorial orbit. While this limits the amount of the Earth's surface it can cover, it maximises the chance that it will obtain images of the notoriously cloudy equatorial regions. It has a 90 minute revisit time over Kuala Lumpur, for example.

The satellite will be operated by the Remote Sensing Malaysia ground receiving station at Temerloh, Pahang. The centre was recently equipped with a large antenna to permit two-way communications with the satellite. The centre also receives data from other satellites: Radarsat-1 and 2; SPOT 2, 4 and 5; Terra and Aqua; the Ocean Colour Monitor on IPS-P4; and various NOAA satellites.

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