It receives data collected on the ground or at sea by hundreds of automatic data-collecting platforms (DCPs) and retransmits all the information in a combined real-time signal back to tracking stations on Earth.

The data are used by agencies such as the Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies Center (Centro de Previsão do Tempo e Estudos Climáticos—CPTEC), hydroelectric power managers, and both private and governmental institutions with many different interests.

The spin-stabilized spacecraft has the shape of an octagonal prism, with a diameter of 1 meter and a height near 70 cm without the antennas that are mounted on both base surfaces.

After the buzz of the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of NASA in July 2015, revealing feature and characteristics on Pluto, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will scan an area on the surface of Pluto, which possibly will be named after the Sátelite Coleta de Dados (SCD-1), as “Coleta de Dados”, located in the large Tombaugh Regio, inside the area Sputnik Planitia.

[7] However, the satellite was lost due to an ignition failure in one of the first-stage thrusters during the first few seconds of flight, requiring the activation of the vehicle's self-destruct command.

It is the second satellite of MECB - Complete Brazilian Space Mission - program developed by INPE.

Its solar panels were built with technology developed in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in partnership with the project team of the satellite's power subsystem by INPE.