The small Balkan nation of Montenegro finished 2025 by taking a history-making step into space with the launch of its first satellite.

Weighing just under 2 kilogrammes, the 1U CubeSat began its journey on the 28th of December aboard a Soyuz carrier rocket from Russia's new cosmodrome near the border with China. A project of Montenegro Space Research, it is designed to collect data for transmission back to Earth. On board are a high-resolution camera, solar panels and a variety of sensors - all designed to function throughout the satellite's three-year mission in low-earth orbit.

Montenegro's amateur radio association announced that it received its first telemetry signals from the satellite on the 31st of December, adding that it planned to donate an antenna to the space research organisation for everyday reception.

The satellite has been named Luca [pronounced: LOO CHA], which is Montenegrin for "light."