“We have planned to send the domestically made satellite Fajr into space by the end of the year,” Taqipour told reporters after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Reportedly, there are many differences between the new satellite and the previous ones.
Fajr can stay in space for longer time and its fuel system has been enhanced.
Iran launched its first domestically manufactured satellite named Omid (Hope) in 2009.
The Islamic Republic unveiled its first major space center in 2008, where the first domestically manufactured rocket, Explorer-1, was launched into space.
In addition, the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) announced in October 2010 that it planned to send humans into space within 10 years.
Mohammad Mardani of the ISA told reporters, “According to the president’s order and (by) carrying out preliminary studies, sending astronauts into space will be done in a ten-year period (plan).”
