IST told Lusa, that signals were received on Tuesday, "a few hours after" the nanosatellite was placed into orbit.

In a statement, IST said, without specifying, that "data relating to the presence of planes in remote areas will only be received in the coming weeks".

In a previous note, IST stated that the first data would be sent approximately one month after the start of operations.

Positioned 580 kilometres from Earth, above the International Space Station, the astronauts' "home" and laboratory, ISTSat-1, built by IST students and professors, will be used to test a new decoder for messages sent by planes that will allow them to be detection in remote areas and assess the feasibility of using nanosatellites to receive signals about the status of aircraft, such as speed and altitude, for aviation safety purposes.

The first signals already received from the nanosatellite "are being analysed by the IST team", which "attempts, remotely, to understand the health status" of the device.

"The Portuguese and international community of radio amateurs has been crucial in this process of collecting information from the satellite", adds the statement from Instituto Superior Técnico, which receives information from ISTSat-1 at the communications station operating at IST's Oeiras hub.

ISTSat-1, a cube that cost around 270 thousand euros, is the first nanosatellite designed by a Portuguese university institution and the third Portuguese satellite to be sent into space, after the Aeros MH-1 nanosatellite, in March, and the PoSat-1 microsatellite, in 1993, which involved the contribution of companies.

The Técnico nanosatellite, launched under a European Space Agency (ESA) program aimed at university institutions, will remain in orbit for between five and 15 years before re-entering the atmosphere, but its mission will have a shorter duration.

Along with ISTSat-1, other small satellites and scientific equipment from foreign institutions, companies and space agencies were sent.