Manama: The Kingdom of Bahrain announced on Saturday it successfully launched its first domestically-designed satellite, Al-Munther, marking a milestone space achievement by the Gulf Arab state. Designed and developed by local expertise, it is fully managed within the Kingdom by the National Space Science Agency, leveraging regional and international expertise to ensure it meets the highest standards.

According to Jordan News Agency, the nanosatellite is equipped with data analysis and processing capabilities and a medium-resolution space camera. It is designed to capture images of Bahrain and its territorial waters for use in environmental and agricultural studies, monitoring urban changes, and coastal surveillance.

The satellite's capacity to analyze satellite images directly using artificial intelligence makes it the first of its kind in the region. The software classifies and processes captured images, improving communication efficiency between the satellite and the ground station, according to the agency.