With a mass of about 150 kilograms and dimensions of roughly 1.2 × 1 × 1 meters, Paya is classified as a mini-satellite and is the heaviest indigenous satellite Iran has so far prepared for launch.
It carries two imaging sensors capable of providing five-meter resolution in black-and-white and 10-meter resolution in color.
By using artificial intelligence-based image processing algorithms, the effective accuracy of the images can be enhanced to around three meters.
For the first time in Iran’s satellite program, mirror-based imaging technology has been employed, making Paya the most advanced domestically developed imaging satellite to date.
Compared with previous Iranian satellites, which were mainly nano- and micro-satellites, Paya offers major improvements in image quality, imaging duration, coverage area, and data transmission rates.
Equipped with a space propulsion subsystem similar to that used in the Chamran-1 satellite, Paya can perform orbital maneuvers and corrections, ensuring an operational lifespan of at least three years.
More than 80 percent of its components and subsystems are locally produced, largely with contributions from Iran’s knowledge-based and private sectors.